Weevil Afloat
by enigma-kar
Summary: A Naval officer is killed in suspicious circumstances. Both NCIS and Torchwood are sent to investigate. Janto, Towen, Tiva and McAbby, with a bit of jealousy thrown in.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the characters below (unfortunate, I know) They belong to either the BBC or CBS

_My first crossover and it's Torchwood/NCIS, and after writing this, I now have the greatest respect for people who write crossovers. It is quite hard at times to keep the characters in character and not go mixing it up with other characters.... if that makes sense. I'd just like to thank BabyBoomBoom0029 who offered to Beta read this, she did a wonderful job. :) Also, Lys - all Tiva in this is for you. Whether it's blatantly obvious or just your imagination. it's for you! :D_

_Enjoy!_

* * *

Chapter One

_The Torchwood Hub_

It was almost peaceful inside the Hub, before Jack burst out of his office.

"I've just been told about an alleged Weevil attack."

"What?" Tosh's eyebrows immediately shot up into her hairline. "There was nothing on the scans." She turned back to her computer screen to check.

"That's because it's not in Cardiff and it wouldn't register on the Rift Monitor." Jack replied.

"Where?" Gwen asked, as Owen emerged from the autopsy room, his arms folded across his chest.

"Middle of the North Atlantic Ocean."

"What?!" Tosh and Gwen exclaimed in unison.

"Flipping hell, Jack. April Fool's was weeks ago!" Owen said.

"I know and this isn't a joke." Jack managed to keep a straight face for a few minutes until it dawned on everyone else that he was actually tell the truth.

"You're serious, aren't you?" Tosh stated.

"I'll start the packing, then." Ianto said with a grim smile.

"Hold on, Ianto." Gwen interrupted. "We can't just go marching off. I have a wedding to plan, not to mention Owen has only just recovered."

"You can't recover from death, Gwen." Owen stated matter-of-factly.

"That's beside the point. I can't just pack up and leave because we happen to have a stupid weevil running amuck on the other side of the globe. It's not our responsibility, Jack! UNIT can handle it!"

"Calm down!" Owen said, holding out his hands as though he were dealing with a very skittish wild horse. "Sometimes, I swear PMS lasts all month long." He muttered under his breath, as an afterthought.

"And it's not bloody PMS, Owen Harper!" Gwen, having obviously heard, shouted in reply. "It's you!"

"I was only joking." Owen replied, giving a crooked grin.

Gwen continued to glare at him, as Jack spoke again. "I'm sorry Gwen, but we have to go. We've actually been requested."

"Us? Requested?" Gwen forgot her anger at Owen.

"Don't tell me it's the CIA. They have no understanding of reporting, or filing for that matter, whether it concerns aliens or not." Ianto groaned.

"No, actually." Jack replied, and he could have sworn Ianto gave a visible sigh of relief. "Some organisation called NCIS."

"Is that like CSI?" Owen asked.

"Well that's what I originally thought, but the lady on the other end, Jenny I think her name was, said explicitly that they were nothing like CSI, then made some comment about Dyslexia." Jack replied, with a slight frown.

"NCIS - Naval Criminal Investigatory Service." Ianto said without a beat.

"Typical teaboy, knowing everything." Owen muttered.

"Naval?" Gwen said a tone of curiosity in her voice.

"Yes, they deal with crimes involving Navy officers, I believe." Ianto continued.

"Naval." Jack said, his eye glazing over. "You mean like young men in uniforms, running around on ships, always wearing their Navy caps and forever referring to you as a superior."

"Jack." Ianto warned, as the rest of the team rolled their eyes.

"Sorry." Jack replied, flashing his trademark grin and Ianto shook his head.

"So a Naval officer was attacked by a Weevil." Tosh confirmed.

"In the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean." Owen continued.

"Yep." Jack was still grinning.

"How did it get out there in the first place?" Ianto questioned.

"That's what we're off to find out." Jack said. "Torchwood is going to sea!"

* * * * *

_NCIS - the 'Bullpen'_

Tony glanced up from his magazine to glare at the pile of paperwork. He could have sworn it had grown in the past hour.

"You've not going to get it done by staring at it." Ziva pointed out, with a smirk.

"Thanks for that Zee-vah." Tony replied with a glare, "Where's all your paperwork?"

"It's done."

"You're kidding!"

"I'm not. McGee has done his too." She stated, continuing to smile at Tony's annoyance.

"Where is Mr. Elflord this morning anyway?" Tony grumbled, glancing at McGee's empty desk and directing the conversation away from paperwork.

"I'm here; wondering why looking at pictures of semi-naked women is helping with your paperwork." McGee said, from behind Tony's shoulder.

Tony gave a yell of surprise and fell out of his chair and onto the floor. As he struggled to get up again, Ziva laughed and McGee walked around to his own desk, a smug smile on his face.

"What have I told you about sneaking up on me, Probie!?" Tony warned.

"Nothing. You've only said that to Ziva and Gibbs." McGee pointed out, instantly.

"Good point, McGee." Gibbs walked in, apparently out of nowhere. "DiNozzo, get up off the ground and gear up."

"We've got a case, boss?" Tony asked, scrambling to his feet in excitement; he was glad to get out of his paperwork.

"Yep." Gibbs replied, making straight for his desk, and taking his gun out of it, and Tony punched the air in joy.

"What is it, Gibbs?" Ziva asked, slinging her backpack across her shoulder.

"Petty Officer killed in suspicious circumstances on board a navy ship."

"This ship got a name, boss?" McGee asked, as they made their way to the elevator.

"Not that we know of." Gibbs said, irritated.

"They're not telling us." Tony guessed and Gibbs gave a nod in answer.

"I hate it when they do that."

"Me too. We'll be catching a plane out in two hours time. You guys go ahead." Gibbs stopped outside the elevator. "Gotta call Ducky up, him and Palmer are coming with us."

"And Abby?" McGee asked.

"She stays here, McGee. We'll need her lab, preferably with her in it."Gibbs glimpsed McGee nod, somewhat disappointedly, before the elevator doors closed with a ping. Walking away he pulled out his mobile and dialled Autopsy, knowing Ducky would already be down there.

"_Jethro, hello_!" The medic answered.

"Hey Duck, need you on this case we've got." Gibbs responded, getting to the point.

"_What do you want me to do?" _Ducky asked with a slight sigh.

"Come with us to a navy ship to do an autopsy." Gibbs answered simply as though he was asking him to join him for coffee.

"_I see. Well I suppose if it's necessary."_

"It will be. We can't have another unknown organisation taking control of the autopsy." Gibbs said with a grin.

"An u_nknown organisation?"_

"Definitely unknown. Jenny sent for them especially, and the only thing I can make out is that they're from the UK."

"_Really, sounds interesting. I am presuming you have told the rest of the team about this."_

"Not yet. I can fill them in on the way."

"_Ok, I'll be down with the garage with Jimmy in a moment."_

"Good to hear, Duck."

"_It is good to hear. Finally, some people that may actually appreciate my stories from when I was in Scotland. Of course, the English and the Scots haven't always got along. I remember this one time-_"

"Duck." Gibbs interrupted him.

"_Oh sorry, Jethro."_

"They're not English or Scottish, Duck."

"_Don't tell me their Irish. Or even worse-"_

"They're Welsh." There was a pause, "I'll see you soon, Duck and thanks." Gibbs snapped his phone shut, smiling, imagining the medic's reaction.

This was going to be interesting.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I think you'd know if I was lucky enough to own the following characters.

_I have to say, my knowledge of Naval ranks and airbases and ships is very limited, so hopefully what I've cobbled together actually does make sense. If not, please let me know. _

_Enjoy, and please take the chance to review, it'll only take a few moments and encourages me to write more. :)_

* * *

Chapter Two

"I'm sorry, love." Gwen spoke on her mobile to her fiancé Rhys. "I don't know when I'll be back." There was a pause. "Yes, it is in the middle of the ocean. And no, I don't know if I'll be able to contact you from there." Another pause. "Don't say that, it's not their fault." She turned to glance at Jack. "Yeah, I promise and I'll try. I've gotta go, darling, we're boarding now. I know, and I love you too." the Welshwoman smiled before snapping her phone shut.

"Ready?" Jack asked, gesturing to the flight assistant who was checking tickets. Tosh, Owen and Ianto had gone ahead, while Jack waited with Gwen as she said her final goodbyes.

Gwen nodded and followed the Captain. "Remind me again why we can't fob this off onto UNIT?" She asked.

"Because this was a Weevil attack and technically Weevils are our responsibility." Jack flashed one of his trademark smiles at the flight assistant, who blushed slightly.

"Why? Because Owen can control them?" Gwen continued as the pair walked down the tunnel towards the plane.

"No, because they are Rift sensitive and we are in charge of the Rift. Therefore we are in charge of controlling them." Jack countered.

"Ah." Was all Gwen could say, but Jack could hear the annoyance in her voice.

It was another five minutes before they made their way to the back of the plane and to their seats. Jack, typically, sat down next to Ianto and Gwen sat down on the other side of Tosh.

"Why can't we have our own plane?" Owen complained, tearing his gaze away from the window. "I hate having to take commercial flights whenever we go places. It's so embarrassing for a secret organisation."

"Did you want the list?" Ianto said, deadpanned.

"Not particularly, I'd rather not spend the rest of my life listening to you." Owen replied sarcastically.

"Life?" Ianto replied with a slight smile, knowing how the medic hated comments about his death.

Owen was about to reply when Gwen interrupted, as always intervening in the argument which would surely erupt. "So what else do we know about this NCIS?"

By this stage the plane had taken off so Tosh pulled out her PDA and tapped in a simple search.

"NCIS," she read out, "Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Director is Jenny Shepard, based in Washington DC, numerous teams, medics and forensic specialists, can't get any further information. Their system is very well protected."

"You can't hack into it?" Jack seemed surprised.

"No." Tosh shook her head and frowned slightly. "Whoever has set this up has done a very good job. I wouldn't mind meeting them."

Jack nodded. "Looks like we're going to have to wait until we arrive before finding out more. In the meantime, however I suggest we get some sleep. It's another eight hours until we arrive and something tells me we won't be getting much in the days to come."

* * * * *

The dark coloured Dodge Challenger roared around the corner at speed, nearly going into a skid. In the passenger seat, Ziva sat unaffected by Gibbs' driving, while in the back, however, McGee and Tony clutched onto the armrest as though it was going to be the last thing they would ever do.

"Do you have to drive so... violently, boss?" McGee managed to ask. "I think I'm gunna puke."

"Oh God!" Tony immediately groaned, moving as far away as the car allowed from McGee.

"Don't worry, Tony." Ziva said, in a rather seductive tone. "I'm sure McGee is capable of aiming away."

"If you'd have let me sit in the front, we wouldn't be in this situation." there a slightly pause, during which Tony suspected McGee swallowed. "I'm much better off sitting up front."

"What? And risk the chance of you being sick all over me?" Gibbs asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I think he meant if he was driving, boss." Tony replied. "Not being passenger."

"If I let McGee drive, we'd never get there in time." Gibbs retorted.

"Fair point." Tony acknowledged.

"We are nearly at the Naval Airport." Ziva said. "I'm sure McGee will be able to keep it up."

"_Down_, Ziva. I'm sure McGee will be able to keep it _down._ Not up!" Tony replied, as though it were second nature to correct her.

"Sorry!" Ziva replied, with a shake of her head. "Why does no one publish these sayings in a book?"

"Because everyone is expected to know it." Tony replied. "Besides it's not even a saying."

"What?"

"Don't worry." Tony sighed. Ziva merely shook her head and didn't reply so the senior field agent went back to praying. Praying McGee wouldn't be sick all over him.

Ten Minutes later, they arrived at the Airbase. A further 30 seconds later, Tony stood at the back of the car, scrubbing at his shirt with a moistened hanky, attempting to remove all pieces of McGee's breakfast from it.

"Ah, Anthony, what have you done?" Ducky commented as he stepped out of the NCIS truck which had pulled up just behind them. It was a miracle the older medic could keep up with Gibbs' driving, especially in the truck.

"McGee was sick." Ziva answered, when Tony refused to.

"Ah." the medic nodded.

"I said I was sorry, Tony." McGee added, genuine as ever.

"Yeah, whatever Probie."

"Come on, you too." Gibbs said, "We need to get some answers."

"Coming, boss." McGee said, following the others as they headed towards the central hanger.

"I'll be on your six in a moment, boss." Tony shouted.

"Now, DiNozzo."

"On it!"

Tony quickly fixed himself up as best as possible and jogged up to stand beside Gibbs, just as they were greeted by the Lieutenant in charge.

"NCIS." Gibbs stated, showing the badge, "Gibbs." he gestured to himself then to the others. "Special Agents DiNozzo and McGee, Ziva David, our medical examiner, Dr. Mallard and his Assistant Mr. Palmer."

"I know, sir. Your director phoned ahead. I am to fill you all in, before you take off."

"Good, firstly where are we taking off too?"

"USS George H.W. Bush, sir."

"And why couldn't you tell us this over the phone?" Tony demanded.

"Sorry, sir. I was under strict orders not to give too much away. The situation on the USS George H.W Bush has not yet been contained, experts from England have been sent for and I was unable to explain this over the phone, as there was no secure line and anyone could have been listening."

"Whoa, back up a second there. Experts? From England?" Tony asked, completely clueless.

"They will be assisting us on this case, DiNozzo." Gibbs answered for him.

"Why didn't you tell us this before, boss?" McGee asked, his voice trailing off as he was silenced with a look from Gibbs. "Right, got it, boss." he added.

"When will they be arriving?"

"They've been placed on the earliest flight to DC and should be arriving in about 5 hour's time."

"See, now I'm a bit annoyed. Because you could have mentioned _that _over the phone and we wouldn't have had to leave until then." Gibbs growled.

"I... I'm... sorry, sir." the Lieutenant stuttered.

"You'd better be." Gibbs replied. "You've got some more filling in to do, and I want to speak to your superior about this other organisation and what they deal in. You've got 5 hours."

* * *

Next: The Torchwood team meets the NCIS team...


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** The following characters (bar a few, which I'm sure you'll be able to pick) do not belong to me, they are (unfortunetly) property of the BBC and CBS

_I hope you like this next chapter, I'm not to sure about it myself, I kept changing the Jack/Gibbs interaction. I swear I just couldn't get it right. Also, again with the not knowing of Navy ranks etc. I sorry if I've got it wrong. :S_

_Enjoy it anyway! :) And don't forget to review (wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more...)_

* * *

Chapter Three

"Aliens?" Tony scoffed, before letting out a laugh. "Ya kidding me!"

"Not at all Agent DiNozzo." the Captain had introduced herself as Captain Miranda Copley, "The Torchwood Institute was set up to protect the residents of Cardiff against the Rift."

"Is this reminding anyone else of a British version of Men in Black?" Tony paused in his laughter to question, only to be stopped by a slap to the back of the head.

"Shut it, DiNozzo."

"Obviously not." he winced.

"So this Rift, in Cardiff, is a rip in time and space and creatures from other worlds slip though and it's their job to control it." Ziva confirmed.

The lady on the screen nodded.

"And one of these creatures had managed to get aboard one of our Navy ships and has gone on a murderous spree." McGee stated.

"It's not a murderous spree, Agent McGee. Only one Petty Officer has been killed and a few have been injured."

"What is the situation at the moment?" Gibbs asked.

"The crew have managed to lock the animal in one of the store rooms. The body of Pretty Officer Reilly has not been touched, and we have plans in action to get the remainder of the crew off the ship ASAP."

Gibbs nodded, satisfied.

"Sorry to interrupt, Jethro." Ducky stepped in. "But when will we be able to get aboard the ship? I would like to examine the body as soon as possible in order to attain and conduct a more accurate examination."

"You will be flown out to the USS George H. W. Bush when the team from Torchwood have arrived." Gibbs opened his mouth to retort, but the Captain spoke again, cutting him off. "I am sorry, but it is not possible to allow any civilians on the ship until the experts have arrived. Only they know how to control the creature."

"Of course, Captain." Ducky replied with a polite nod of the head.

Knowing they were right, Gibbs opted for a slight nod of the head, before muttering his thanks and cutting the video connection.

"So what now, boss?" Tony asked.

"Now, DiNozzo, we wait."

* * * * *

"You know, I actually never joined the Navy." Jack stated quietly to Ianto, who was the only one awake.

"I thought you would have fit right in." Ianto said with a slight smile.

"I more the Army type." Jack admitted and Ianto smiled again, his head resting on his Captain's shoulder.

The flight was scheduled to land in just under an hour and for the past seven of those, the team had slept, except Jack of course. Ianto had only woken due to a bored Jack, who decided it would have been fun to lick Ianto's ear whilst he was sleeping. This was followed by a brief, half-hearted argument, resolved by some kissing and making up.

"Of course. Because being on a ship full of young men for months at a time would have been out of the question." Ianto said, with a hint of sarcasm.

Jack laughed. "I never said I didn't consider it."

"So you chose to stay here and join Torchwood."

"Yup. And I'm happy I did." Jack smiled and placed a light kiss on Ianto's forehead.

"Me too." Ianto replied.

"Oh this is sickening! Can't you guys give it a rest?" Owen's voice rang out from behind them, surprising them both.

"Stop it Owen, I think it's sweet." Tosh responded with a smile.

"How long have you guys been awake?" Jack asked.

"Long enough." Gwen said with a little giggle.

"There is no such thing as privacy these days, is there?" Ianto asked to no one in particular.

"Not with us around." Owen grinned.

Ianto rolled his eyes.

Their conversation continued, ranging from topic, until the plane began to descent. As with getting on the commercial flight, there was a considerable amount of pushing and shoving as they attempted to get off the plane. They had no luggage beside what they carried on, so their group of five made their way quickly to the taxi rank and it took only another hour's drive to get them to the Naval Airbase.

Jack paid the driver and waved him off, commenting on his nice jaw line; he ignored his team's head shaking.

"So what now?" Owen asked, looking around.

"I guess we wait for them to come and greet us." Tosh said.

"Which isn't going to take long." Ianto added, nodding towards where the teams from NCIS were walking towards them.

Jack spun around and walked out to greet them, Tosh, Gwen, Owen and Ianto following behind.

"Captain Jack Harkness." he offered a hand to the silver-haired man, presuming he was the leader. "But you can call me Jack."

"Torchwood, I presume." the older looking man replied, taking Jack's hand almost grudgingly. Jack nodded in response. "Jethro Gibbs, NCIS." he held up his badge.

"Nice to meet you, Jethro." Jack replied with a flash of a smile.

"It's just Gibbs." he replied and Jack nodded, the grin not falling from his face. "This is my team." Gibbs went on, "Special Agents Tony DiNozzo and Timothy McGee. Mossad Officer Ziva David. My Medical Examiner Dr. Donald Mallard and his assistant Jimmy Palmer."

"Nice to meet you all." Jack shook each of their hands. "And this is my team." he turned and gestured, like a proud father showing off his kids. "Gwen Cooper, Toshiko Sato, Dr. Owen Harper and last, but certainly not least." he gave a wink to the man in question. "Ianto Jones."

"Pleasure." Gibbs said, his voice slightly gruff. "Now that you're here we can go. We've been waiting for hours."

"Sorry, about that." Jack apologised. "We don't have our own private jet or anything. Had to take a commercial flight."

"We do much the same." Gibbs admitted with a slight smile. "Let's go!" he added to his team and after a nod from Jack the group of eleven made their way across to where the plane would leave from.

It only took half an hour for them all board the plane, luggage and all; Jack insisting to sit next to Gibbs, obviously determined to engage him in a more detailed conversation. The rest of their teams sat together behind them, and the two leaders only caught bits of conversation.

* * * * *

"So you are from Mossad?" Ianto confirmed with Ziva, as they followed. He had heard a little about the organisation back when he worked at Torchwood One, and was interested to know more.

"Yes." she answered somewhat guarded.

"In that case, Shalom." Ianto greeted her, formally in Hebrew.

Ziva smiled, pleased. "And you are Welsh, correct?" Ianto nodded.

"In that case, Shwmae." And she greeted him in his language, much to the Welshman's surprise.

"You speak Welsh?" he was amazed.

"I speak many languages, but only a little Welsh."

"I only know a little Hebrew, too." Ianto admitted, with a smile.

"It is a pleasure to meet you Mr. Jones." Ziva continued.

"It's Ianto. And it's a pleasure to meet you too..." he paused unsure of how to address her.

"Ziva." she replied and he smiled. Both of them completely missed the glare from Tony.

* * * * *

"You know our bosses are very alike." Tony mused, to Torchwood and NCIS member alike, "Excluding the obvious." he added.

"The obvious?" Ziva asked, with a frown.

"He's gay." Tony said, evidently. "I mean who wears period military clothes? That is not the dress code of a straight man."

"That's what I said!" Owen said, turning to look at Tony. "They wouldn't believe me." he nodded towards the rest of the Torchwood team.

"Is now really the time to discuss this?" Ianto asked, pointedly and the conversation ended abruptly. Not before Owen had made a rather obvious gesture, hinting to the NCIS agents that they were together.

Jack grinned at that and could have sworn Gibbs moved a few inches away from him.

"I'd wipe that grin off your face, Harkness." Gibbs stated, gripping his harness tightly. "These planes accelerate very quickly."

"You think I can't handle a bit of speed?"

Gibbs merely shrugged.

"I've been through a lot, trust me. Not much -" Jack was cut off as the plane took off, shooting into the air; the breath knocked out of him. As the Captain struggled to breath, he could have sworn he heard Gibbs chuckle.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **Still don't belong to me... and probably never will, which is a bit tragic.

_Thanks for everyone who has reviewed so far, it's been most appreciated. Special thanks to 'Anonymous' who's reviews have always been so positive! :) _

_And now for Chapter Four... with some action and drama added in at the end..._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

Chapter Four

The plane, or rather jet, landed about 45 minutes later on the USS George H.W. Bush and left almost immediately.

"That jet really -" Tosh began, as they were led by Gibbs off the runway to be greeted by the commander in charge.

"Takes it out of you." McGee finished for her and the woman nodded. "Yeah, I was sick the first time I went on one of those flights."

"That surprises no one, Probie." Tony added in from behind them.

"Commander Daniel Barlow, sir." Their conversation was cut short by the introduction of the commander.

"Captain Jack Harkness." Jack immediately offered his hand. "We're Torchwood."

"Special Agent Gibbs, NCIS." Gibbs further introduced.

"And these are our teams." Jack continued, with a head gesture. He was about to give their names as well, before Gibbs interrupted.

"Introductions later, Harkness. We've got an investigation to run." He paused, but Jack made no comment. "Take us to the body Commander."

* * * * *

Ten minutes later, Ziva was taking pictures of the scene and Tony was sketching. Gwen was watching and assisting them wherever she could with the bagging and tagging, which there wasn't much of unless you count the dead man's ID and dog tags, which had been ripped off at some stage by the Weevil and flung a few feet away.

"Ahh, my friend. I do pity you. Being torn apart is really one of the most horrific ways to die." Ducky muttered, as he leaned over the mangled body of Petty Officer David Reilly.

"Does he always talk to his patients?" Owen, who was naturally assisting, whispered to Jimmy.

"Always." The younger man answered. "Only one to date has ever talked back though. But that was before I came here…" he trailed off and Owen (for once) didn't push the issue.

Behind them, Commander Barlow was reporting what he saw to both Jack and Gibbs; while Ianto stood beside them taking notes.

"… and then it just ran off, completely crazed of course and I'm afraid to say we haven't seen it since."

"And was there anyone else who saw the incident?" Jack asked.

"Not that I know of, you may want to talk to the other Officers in his dorm, though. Everyone gets pretty close when you're with them for years at a time. They may know something of how it got on board."

"I want those in his cabin to stay on board. We'll need to speak to them." Gibbs replied.

"I'll get Gwen onto it." Jack added, not asking to see whether or not that was ok with the NCIS boss.

"DiNozzo, David, help Ms Gwen Cooper with the rounding up of those in Petty Officer Reilly's dorm. Get the names off the Commander and no flirting DiNozzo; she's engaged." Gibbs added with a growl. Tony's face immediately went into a pout, knowing his boss was talking about Gwen. His face dropped even further when Gwen held up her left hand for him to see and he reached one hand up and slapped himself on the back of the head.

Gibbs nodded with a small smile, before turning and yelling out loud. "McGee!"

"Yeah boss?"

"Set up your laptop and run a heat sensor, see if we can locate the…"

"Weevil." Jack offered and Gibbs muttered something which sounded like a thank you.

"On it, boss." McGee obeyed, and turned to open his bag.

"Hold on." Jack interrupted and the junior field agent paused; torn between what to do. "Tosh can do that on her PDA, which is already turned on and with the addition of the technology we have on there, she can trace it quicker; she knows what she's looking for when it comes to heat patterns." he smiled as though enjoying a private joke.

McGee looked hesitantly towards Gibbs, seeking his approval on the matter.

"Fine, McGee, help her with it and then get onto Abby, email her the prints of PO Reilly, just to make sure he's who he says he is."

McGee nodded and got about setting up his laptop.

"McGee?" Tosh's voice was quiet.

"It's Tim." He replied with a small smile, which she returned.

"Uh, Tim. I've found the Weevil's heat signature on my PDA."

"Already?" McGee said, amazed, as he leaned over to look at the small screen. "That's incredible, my laptop is still booting up."

"Thanks." she smiled again, "I just need to know whereabouts on the ship it is, so we can intercept it."

McGee frowned, his eyes still on the small screen. "That's us, right?" he pointed to the small group of 12 heat dots.

"Yeah. And that's the Weevil." she pointed a few centimetres away on the screen.

"That looks kinda close."

"Maybe. I don't know the layout of the ship, and because my hard drive doesn't have enough memory to store the 3D version of this software, I can't tell which level it's on."

"Me neither." McGee said, his voice faltering slightly. "It looks like it's moving, though."

"You're right. I'm going to let the Commander and our bosses know."

"Sure. I'll just send these prints to Abby."

Tosh nodded and walked hurriedly over to Jack, Ianto, Gibbs and the Commander. McGee watched as they spoke for a few moments before turning back to his own laptop.

"Hey Abs, you there?" he asked the seemingly empty video footage of her lab a few seconds later when he was connected.

"McGee!" Abby appeared in shot, grinning. "How's life aboard the Bush?"

"I've only been here for half an hour, Abby." he reminded her, grinning himself; her cheerfulness was contagious.

"Well..." she trailed off. "What have you got for me anyway, McGee."

"The prints of the mauled Petty Officer. Need you to run them through AFIS, see if he is who he says he is."

"And who's that?"

"Petty Officer David Reilly. I'm sending them now."

On his screen, Abby turned and tapped away at her computer, before turning back to the camera. "I got them." she said, receiving a satisfactory nod from McGee.

"So how is it working with Torchwood?"

"You know them?"

"Yeah, there are heaps of conspiracy theories online, if you know where to look." she tapped her nose knowingly. "Is it true they deal with aliens?"

McGee turned around to look at turn at each of the Torchwood members, before turning back to Abby and nodding. "It's seriously amazing the stuff they can do."

"Oooh! Like what? Tell me, Timmy!" she mockingly whined.

"For starters the tech they have is so advanced, it would have to be upgraded by something alien, and it's like nothing I have ever seen before. And the woman who uses it all, Tosh. She's just amazing. The speed at which she can get stuff up on her PDA. It's incredible!"

"Amazing, aye?" Abby's voice had lost its previous elation. "So is she a really geeky type? With the glasses and stuff?"

McGee turned to look at Tosh, still in conversation with the others. He looked at her glasses, and the way she held her books and the shy way she talked. He turned back to the screen and nodded; a small grin on his face.

"Yeah she is a bit."

Abby nodded somewhat knowingly. "Of course she is." she said it as though it were a bad thing.

"Actually, I think it's kinda sweet. It suits her, you know."

"Uh huh."

"Yeah, but she's only got eyes for their Medic, Owen I think his name is." McGee went on. "It's obvious the way she shoots longing looks at him."

"Ah." Abby said with a snigger, clearly pleased at hearing this.

"Yeah, not really my type either." he leaned closer to the screen to whisper. "I don't think she has much of a life besides this Torchwood."

Abby was about to reply, but it all happened too quickly and she never would have had the time to respond normally. McGee, himself, barely had time to react. It seemed like only a few moments from Gibbs and Tosh shouting at him to get out of the way, to the Weevil suddenly clawing at his neck.

The struggle was short, but the damage of that first few strikes had been enough. Twin gunshots sounded signifying the creature's death and McGee let out a groan, which had been meant as a sigh of relief.

"McGee?" he heard Gibbs talking to him, his tone soothing and seemingly worriless.

"Boss?" he managed to reply; his voice husky.

"Everything gunna be fine, Probie." It was Tony, back already from his task of rounding up Reilly's dorm members.

"T...thanks...Tony..." No one knew if it was meant to be sarcastic or not.

"Ducky'll take good care of you." Gibbs reassured, and McGee glimpsed the medic before closing his eyes.

Clutching at his chest and neck, McGee felt the warm blood seep between his fingers, contrasting with the texture of his ripped shirt. The last thing the junior field agent heard before he slipped into unconsciousness was the computer-speaker-quality of Abby as she screamed his name in shock, horror and fear.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: **I own none of the characters mentioned below, except the obvious.

_Enjoy. :)_

* * *

Chapter Five

McGee groaned in pain at the somewhat loud, whispering voices as they cut through his conscious.

"You are one very lucky man, Timothy." Ducky's voice was clearest and presumably closest. "Jethro, tell Abigail he's alright, she's been beside herself with fear and guilt for the past hour."

McGee heard the sound of someone close get up and leave his side. The young man groaned again and squeezed one eye open. Ducky's blurred face was the first thing he saw. He blinked again and it came into focus, along with the worried faces of Tony and Ziva. The two were standing behind the medic and Palmer; Tony had his arm around the Mossad agent in comfort. There was no sign of the Torchwood team.

"Welcome back, my friend." Ducky said with a smile on his face.

McGee opened his mouth to say something back, but winced in pain and decided against it.

"Take it easy, Probie." Tony said, as McGee tried to get up from the stretcher bed he suddenly noticed he was on.

"How…" he coughed and clutched a hand against his bandaged chest.

"You're in the emergency room. I brought you hear after you'd been stabilised at the scene." Ducky answered his unheard question.

"But the Weevil…" McGee frowned, trying to remember if he'd heard gunshots or not.

"Gibbs and Mr. Harkness got it; nasty thing." Ducky muttered.

"They both fired at the same time. It would have been dead before it hit the ground." Ziva explained.

"Torchwood's taking care of it now. That, Dr. Harper is very efficient and I daresay his knowledge of that creature far out extends my own. " Ducky said.

McGee nodded, now fully upright and glanced down at his chest.

"You received quite a few large and deep gashes to your chest. That was what caused your bleeding and unconsciousness." Ducky gave his report. "It was a miracle the creature missed your jugular vein and your superior vena cava. You would have bled out in mere minutes if one of those had been nicked."

"No offence Ducky, but my knowledge of anatomy is limited. I'm just glad I'm ok."

"None taken, my boy." Ducky gave a satisfied nod and looked up in unison with his patient when Gibbs walked back in the room.

"How'd she take it?" Tony asked.

"She'll want to speak to him of course." Ducky answered him.

Gibbs nodded and McGee's eyes widened. "Abby? She's here?"

"No, but she's been pacing her lab for the past hour, worried sick about you." Tony said. "It took nearly all of us to calm her down and convince her that you'd be fine."

"Somehow I don't think she was completely convinced." Palmer said with fond smile.

"Bring the laptop in, Jethro. I am sure Abigail will want to see for herself." Ducky said, smiling at McGee, as his face lit up.

Seconds later, McGee's laptop was placed in front of him and his friends backed away a few steps in an attempt to give the two of them a bit of privacy whilst talking.

"Timmy! Oh my god! Are you ok?" Abby's voice was full of worry and her blackened cheeks told McGee she'd been crying.

"It's ok, Abs. I'm fine." McGee said, his voice soothing.

"No, but, I saw. That thing. My god, it was all my fault. Are you sure you're ok?" Abby began pacing her lab again and McGee wished he was there to hold her and hug her; to convince her he was fine.

"Abby!" McGee resorted to raising his voice. "Calm down. Please. I'm fine. Look at me, Abby."

On the screen, Abby turned towards the camera again. "I'm so sorry, Timmy." she sniffled.

"Why are you sorry, Abby?" McGee asked, trying not to show his pain as he shifted into a more comfortable position on the bed.

"It was all my fault, Timmy."

"What? Abby, it could never be your fault. Never." McGee said, confused at why she was blaming herself.

"But I was talking to you at the time. You were distracted. If I wasn't there, you'd be fine. Gibbs could have warned you sooner."

"Abby, listen to me. I am fine. Really." McGee smiled, as though that would prove it to her.

"Are you sure?" Her eyes were still wide with worry.

"I promise, Abs." And the forensic scientist smiled slightly.

"Ok, just don't scare me like that again, Timmy."

"I won't." he agreed.

"Good." she smiled again. "Oh and McGee, the dead Petty Officer, was in fact, David Reilly."

* * * * *

"Do you think he'll be alright?" Tosh asked, a worried tone in her voice. "Tim, I mean."

"Of course he will, Tosh. You heard what Dr. Mallard said." Owen replied.

"I know, the Weevil didn't even touch any of his major arteries or veins." she said with a sigh.

"Exactly." Owen pointed out. "He's going to be fine. Now can you pass me that scalpel?"Tosh handed the item in question to him and the Torchwood medic muttered his thanks, causing Tosh to blush slightly. She then turned away, as he made the first incision.

"Jack? Why didn't the Weevil calm down in Owen's presence?" Gwen whispered to the Captain, out of earshot of the medic and Tosh.

"I don't know." Jack responded.

"I thought he could sort of control them, though?"

"He can, Gwen." Ianto replied this time. "A day hasn't gone by when he hasn't mentioned being King of the Weevils." Jack snorted at that, before going back to frowning.

"It is because we're out of range of the rift?" Gwen asked.

"I don't know, Gwen. The range of the rift is still unknown."

"I think Owen just got too cocky about being able to control the Weevils." Ianto stated. "It wouldn't be first time he's been too cocky about something."

"You reckon he's lost his touch?" Gwen asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't." Jack said. "Owen!" he shouted over at the medic, getting an exasperated 'What Jack?' in reply, "Test the Weevil's blood."

"For what, Jack? You're going to have to be more specific." Owen answered.

"Drugs." Jack replied.

"You think it's got drugs in its system?"

"It would explain the rabid behaviour and why you couldn't control it." Jack countered.

"Right. But I'm going to need some coffee. Teaboy!"

"On it, your highness." Ianto replied sarcastically, already heading off to the small coffee machine, conveniently placed in the room next to where they were working.

* * * * *

"Hey boss?"

"What DiNozzo?"

"Just wondering how the Weevil thing or whatever got on here in the first place?" Tony questioned. They were all seated around McGee's bed, discussing the case after Abby had confirmed Petty Officer Reilly was who he said he was. McGee was seated upright and after a larger dose of painkillers, was feeling a lot better.

"Someone obviously brought it on board." Ziva replied.

"Not necessarily, Ziva." Ducky said. "The state of that creature indicated it was out of its mind. It could have easily just stumbled onto the ship."

"It's an alien, Duck." Gibbs said. "Who knows what its usual state of mind is."

"Torchwood does." The medic replied.

"He's right, Gibbs. They all looked surprised when the Weevil attacked." Ziva said.

"She's right, boss. They did look a bit shocked, especially their medic." Tony said, earning a smile from Ziva.

"So it was brought on board then?"

"Yeah, but by whom?" Gibbs questioned.

"None of his mates looked suspicious or guilty, boss." Tony said.

"That still doesn't explain how it got on board, though." McGee suddenly spoke up.

"Didn't we just agree that someone brought it on?" Tony asked, glancing at Gibbs for a confirmation in case he'd accidently misheard something. "You've better not be losing your memory, Probie."

"I think it's the drugs." Ziva said in a low voice.

"I'm not losing my memory, Tony." McGee sighed, before shooting a look at Ziva. "I meant that if someone had brought it on board, the ship must have been over in Cardiff at some stage."

"What bring you to that conclusion?" Tony asked.

"Do you see any of these Weevils running around here?" McGee questioned. "Or anywhere you've ever been?"

"Well, no, but-"

"Exactly. They are only in Cardiff, near where this Rift thing is, I'm guessing." McGee said.

"Good point, McGee." Gibbs praised.

"Yeah, but how did you know -" Tony began.

"He's right." Jack said from the doorway, with an ever-present grin. "Glad to see you're looking better, Tim." The Captain's grin widened.

"Uh… thanks." McGee returned the smile, half-heartedly.

"Hope I'm not interrupting anything, but we've got a problem, Gibbs." Jack continued, turning towards the boss. "The Weevil's blood was pumped full of cocaine. Looks like this wasn't just an accident."


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing... except a few boxsets and books, but they don't count do they?

_Sorry for dragging the chapter out a bit, I promise after all the information (which is kinda vital to the story) there will be some more action, drama, twists, humour and emotion. :) Well I hope so anyway. _

_Enjoy!_

* * *

Chapter Six

There was a shocked silence at the news, as Gibbs looked in turn at his team. The NCIS leader then turned to Jack.

"I presume you will wish to take it from here, Gibbs." Jack said with a nod as he noticed that it was only NCIS agents in the room and it would be best for their boss to give the orders.

"Yeah I would." Gibbs replied before turning back to his team. "David, DiNozzo I want this whole ship searched for Cocaine, starting with Petty Officer Reilly's dorm."

"That is going to take a lot of time, boss." Tony said.

"You've got two hours, DiNozzo." Gibbs replied, ignoring the shock on Tony's face.

"Take Gwen and Ianto with you." Jack offered, and the shock somewhat lessened.

"Thank you, Captain Harkness." Ziva said with a smile.

"Please, call me Jack." the Captain winked at her and Tony rolled his eyes.

"Get on with it, you two!" Gibbs reminded them.

"You had to mentioned it taking a lot of time, didn't you, Tony." Ziva whispered harshly, as they left the room. "He never would have given us the time limit."

"And you just had to flirt with bum-chin-gay-man, didn't you." Tony retorted.

"Hey, I heard that DiNozzo!" Tony stopped in his tracks and did a double take, as Jack Harkness of Torchwood yelled at him.

"Sorry… boss." Tony replied over his shoulder with a cringe. He continued on his way again, trying to ignore Ziva as she laughed.

"Nice call, Harkness." Gibbs approved, back in the emergency room. "Duck, can you and Palmer finish that Autopsy of Reilly, and if Torchwood has a blood testing kit on them, I want to know if he's got drugs in his system too."

"Of course, Jethro." Ducky replied. "Mr. Palmer, get the gurney, I have the feeling we will need to transfer our deceased Petty Officer to a more sterile environment."

"Sure, Doctor." Palmer replied, and left the room before his superior did.

"W… what about me?" McGee asked from his position in bed, his eyes darting from Ducky, to Gibbs and back again. Gibbs glanced at Ducky for the medic's opinion.

"You're going to have to take it easy, Timothy." Ducky said. "I'm sorry, but no more field work for you. At least not today."

"Can he sit and type?" Gibbs asked, nodding towards the laptop.

"As long as he doesn't undergo any stress, we wouldn't want any of the stitches coming undone." Ducky said. "Now, I really must get on. Mr. Palmer might have started without me, God help us…" he voice trailed off as he left the room.

Gibbs nodded. "McGee I want you to get onto the video surveillance. I want to know exactly what that thing did from the moment I got on board until the moment I shot it."

"Sure boss." McGee nodded, glad to be involved.

"I'll send Tosh in to help you." Jack said, "She can identify the Weevil's behaviour patterns, which may give us a clue as to how it got on board."

"It was brought on by someone, Captain." Gibbs said.

"How do you know that?" Jack questioned.

"I just do. I want you with me." Gibbs continued.

"Yes, sir." Jack gave a mock salute, earning a glare from Gibbs and a look of surprise from McGee. Surprise at the fact Gibbs only glared at the Captain and didn't proceed to smack him over the head.

"We're going to have a chat with the Commander."

* * * * *

"So what exactly are we looking for?" McGee asked Tosh not much later. The NCIS agent was now out of bed and was sorting through hours of video surveillance with Tosh.

"Anything abnormal for a Weevil." Tosh said with a smile, knowing McGee wouldn't have a clue. "I'll just let you know if I see anything."

"Thanks." McGee replied, meaning it. "So you must know quite a bit about aliens, then?"

"Yeah, it's great." she smiled again. "Although, when it comes to Weevils, it's probably Owen you should talk to; our medic. He's more," she paused thinking of how to put it, "in touch with them."

"In touch?" McGee cocked an eyebrow.

"It's complicated." Tosh avoided, giving another fond smile before turning back to the laptop screen.

McGee nodded and didn't push the issue. "So you and him must be really close."

"That's complicated, too." she replied. "I mean, we're close, like friends are close and we get along fairly well at work, it's just..." she trailed off and turned to look McGee in the eye. "We had something a while back, but it wasn't really serious. We kinda just drifted apart, no matter how hard I tried to hold on. He sleeps around heaps, but I still really like him."

McGee nodded, completely understanding her. It was a bit like that with him and Abby. There was a sudden loud beep from the laptop, bringing both of them out of their off-topic conversation.

"Oh... sorry." Tosh blushed. "I just kinda gave you my life story there. We should be concentrating on this." she gestured to the screen.

"It's ok." McGee assured her. "I know exactly how you feel."

Tosh turned to look at him once more. "You do? Because from where I'm standing it looks like Abby likes you too." she smiled slightly again.

"How-" McGee began, but the laptop beeped again. They both turned to look at it. "Hold on, is that?" McGee tapped at the keyboard, zooming in the paused image.

"That looks like the Petty Officer and -" Tosh said, glancing at McGee, her eyes wide.

"We'd better call Gibbs." McGee said, glancing at the screen once again to confirm before pulling out his mobile and dialling.

* * * * *

"A word, Commander."

"Of course, Agent Gibbs." Commander Daniel Barlow replied, before leading the two of them into a more private room. "Please, sit." He invited, gesturing to two of three chairs.

"What can I help you with?"

"We need to ask a few questions regarding the locations of this vessel." Jack stated.

"And anything regarding Petty Officer Reilly." Gibbs added.

"Sure." Commander Barlow replied easily.

"How long ago were you in the UK, Commander?" Gibbs' question was blunt.

"Only a few weeks ago."

"We need precise dates." Jack said.

"O…of course." The Commander pulled out a small notebook from his breast pocket and examined it. "We came to port at Her Majesty's Naval Base, Portsmouth 2 weeks and 3 days ago. We were there for a day and a half to stock up on supplies." He looked up at Gibbs and Jack and smiled. "Precise enough for you?"

"Sure is." Gibbs replied, jotting it down in a similar notepad. He really didn't like Barlow's sarcasm and suspected Jack didn't either.

"Any of the crew go ashore?" Jack asked.

"Yeah, the majority of them did. You know what it's like after you've been at sea for months on end."

"That I do, Commander." Gibbs replied. "Was Petty Officer Reilly one of majority that went ashore?"

"No." The Commander replied, causing Jack and Gibbs to exchange a glance.

"Why was that?"

"He was on punishment duty. Disobeyed a direct order, so I had him clean the heads for two hours each day." He looked proud of the punishment, as though the Petty Officer had deserved it.

"Heads?" Jack questioned.

"Toilets." The Commander answered and Jack gave a nod of understanding.

"He wasn't happy with that, as you'd imagine." the Commander let out a laugh. Jack smiled weakly.

"Reilly was also restricted to the ship?" Gibbs questioned further and the Commander nodded, his laughter vanishing.

"Out of those who went ashore, did any go to Cardiff?" Jack inquired.

"Cardiff? How should I know? We dock; they go off and are expected to be back by the time we leave. If not, they get left behind." Jack and Gibbs nodded, despite not been fully happy with his answer.

"He deserved it too, if you ask me. The punishment, that is." He added.

"Why's that, Commander?" Jack asked.

"Reilly was always back chatting superiors, never disobeyed an order before, but the back chatting and smart arse replies were enough to drive anyone up the wall."

"You didn't get along." It was a statement.

"Not well, no." The Commander admitted. Gibbs and Jack exchanged another look. "Can I ask why you are asking me this? I thought you weren't going to be here long. That thing's dead now, right?"

"Petty Officer Reilly was murdered, Commander." Gibbs said, his voice low.

"And not by the Weevil." Jack cut in as the Commander opened his mouth to respond.

"You're telling me that Petty Officer Reilly was mauled by one of my crew?" The Commander's tone was sarcastic again.

"No, but one of your crew gave that creature a hit of cocaine, which made it go rabid and maul your Petty Officer." Gibbs explained.

"You can't be serious. I'd know if there were any drugs on board." Commander Barlow was adamant.

"Looks like you're wrong, Commander. You just told us you were in the UK two weeks and three days ago. That Weevil was brought on then and must have been aboard that entire time before killing Reilly." Jack said.

"Any idea of who would want to murder Petty Officer Reilly?" Gibbs asked the shocked Commander.

"I…" Gibbs' phone was ringing, interrupting the Commander.

"Gibbs." He picked up.

"_Hey boss_." It was McGee.

"What have you got, McGee?" Gibbs asked, glancing a look at the Commander.

"_Camera footage you should really take a look at._"

"What is it?"

"_It… it's not really concerning that…" _there was a pause, "_… Weevil."_

"Well, why the hell are you phoning me, McGee?" Gibbs' voice was harsh.

"_It's footage of…_"

"Of what?" Gibbs softened his voice, remembering the ordeal McGee had just been through.

"It's _Commander Barlow, boss, and he does not look happy with Petty Officer Reilly. The way he is threatening our Petty Officer; it's a dead giveaway. I think we've got a suspect, boss."_

Gibbs muttered his thanks and praise, snapped his phone shut and turn to look at the Commander.

"What?" Commander Barlow shrugged.

Gibbs turned to Jack, "Do you wanna read him his rights, Captain?"

Jack grinned. "Love to."


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: **They belong to the BBC and CBS

_Yep, my next chapter is up, with added James Bond, this time. :P Thanks to everyone who has reviewed, you guys are the best! Also thank you to _moms5thchild _who gave me the idea of the conversation between Ducky and Owen. :)_

_Enjoy!_

* * *

Chapter Seven

Tony groaned as he stepped back from the mattress he was examining. "Nothing... again." he commented dryly. "This place is clean."

"There is nothing here either." Ziva answered him, turning around from the lockers. "Nothing visible to me anyway."

"Black light search?" Tony asked and Ziva began to get the necessary equipment out of her backpack.

"Are you sure there is nothing we can do?" Gwen asked, referring to herself and Ianto.

"Switch the lights off?" Ziva said, switching on the blue glowing wand. Gwen gave a slight scowl, but did so anyway.

"What does that do?" Ianto asked.

"Come on." Tony said his voice a mixture of humour and shock, "You've never seen one of these? Don't you watch crime shows?"

"Not particularly." Ianto admitted.

"He's more of a James Bond guy." Gwen told them, with a roll of her eyes.

"No? Really!" In the blue glow of the wand, they could see Tony's face split into a surprised smile. Ianto nodded.

"Who's your favourite?" The both asked in unison, while Ziva and Gwen groaned simultaneously.

"Sean Connery." Ianto said with a laugh.

"Aw no, it's gotta be Roger Moore." Tony responded immediately, all thoughts of the investigation pushed to the back of his mind.

"Sean Connery - original and the best." Ianto argued.

Tony opened his mouth to retort, but was stopped as a hand slapped over his mouth.

"Eee-Vaaa!" he mumbled, knowing exactly whose hand was over his mouth.

"Tony!" she waggled the glowing wand in front of him. "I will not hesitate to hit you with this, if you do not shut up about your stupid movie and get on with this case."

Tony nodded his head meekly and Ianto took a step away from the Mossad Officer. Ziva removed her hand before Tony could lick it (something she would not have been surprised at); the glare in her eyes did not leave.

"Thank you." he said, taking a dramatic gasp for air. "And it's _movies_, not movie. There was actually more than one James Bond film." He added, with a grin. Ziva raised the wand over her head as though preparing to bring it down on Tony. Tony let out a small whimper and Ziva gave a smug smile.

"Shall we get back to this now?" she said.

"Good idea." Gwen agreed, deciding not to get on Ziva's bad side.

"Thank you, Gwen." Ziva said with a smile, now blatantly ignoring Tony and Ianto. She held up the blue wand and waved it slowly over the bed first, finding nothing.

"The lockers?" Gwen suggested and Ziva nodded. Once again she waved the wand over each shelf in the locker. Once again there was nothing.

"There is nothing here." Ziva said with a sigh. "You can turn the lights back on."

"Wait!" Ianto cried out. "There." He pointed to a spot behind the locker, in the centimetre gap between it and the wall. Ziva frowned and the four of them leaned forwards as she positioned the wand over it. A few spots of something glowed back.

"Drug residue." Ianto guessed.

"Yep." Tony said with a sigh. "We'd better get this back to Gibbs."

* * * * *

Owen gave a satisfactory smile as he zipped up the body bag now containing the Weevil. The coffee Ianto had brought him remained untouched and stone cold on a bench beside him. The medic had demanded one, forgetting his condition. It had been almost three months; you would have thought he'd been used to it by now. Then again, no one is ever meant to get used to death. The thoughts of his condition reminded Owen of the never-healing cut on his hand. He'd need to change it again.

Sighing, the Torchwood medic sat down and began to unwind the bandage. Two minutes later he had begun to restitch the wound. Half way along the 2 inch cut he heard the humming, following by the calling out.

"Dr Harper?" It was Ducky and he sounded close.

"Shit!" Owen swore and half attempted to cover the wound, knowing it probably wouldn't get past the observant NCIS medical examiner.

"Ah, there you are Dr. Harper." Ducky entered the room. "I was wondering if we could borrow your drug testing kit. I thought we'd brought our own, but it seems Mr. Palmer has forgotten it. Poor boy would lose his head if it wasn't screwed..." his voice trailed off when he noticed the needle, the threat and the bandage beside a badly covered hand.

"Are you ok, Dr. Harper?"

"It's Owen." the medic replied, sighing. "And, yeah I'm ok... considering."

"Considering?"

Owen didn't reply, he simply revealed his hand for Ducky to see. Neither spoke as he examined the cut, shock flickering across the older man's face.

"I have only seen cuts similar to this on those I work with." Ducky said, his eyes wide. "It looks like it was done post mortem. It hasn't healed."

"I know." Owen nodded, a grim smile on his face.

"But that's not possible."

"Tell me about it." Owen tried to joke.

"What happened?"

"It's complicated, but the short story is I'm dead." Owen stated, turning his arm over for Ducky to feel for a pulse he knew wouldn't be there.

"When?" Was all the medic could say, his eyes fixated on Owen's wrist.

"About three months ago. I was shot." he paused. "And then brought back."

"I don't want to know how." Ducky said with a shake of his head. He then looked up into Owen's eyes. They suddenly seemed so cold and distant. "I am sorry, though."

Owen nodded. "Yeah, I know. Everybody was... is." he corrected.

"Let me help." Ducky said with a little smile and Owen watched as he sewed his hand up again and bandaged.

"You're not worried or shocked?" Owen asked, surprised at the calmness of the medic.

"When you're my age, my friend, you will realise that not everything is as complicated or bad as you think." Ducky told him. "I have seen many things that surprise and shock me, I've become use to it."

Owen nodded, understanding where the doctor was coming from. "It's good." he said. "All I've had for the past months is people worrying over me, not wanting me to do my job because I might get hurt and never heal."

"Give them time, they'll learn eventually." Ducky said with a fond smile, as though remembering some previous experience.

"Thanks, Doctor." Owen said returning the smile.

"Ducky, please. Only Mr. Palmer calls me 'Doctor'. One person is enough."

"Then, thanks Ducky."

"My pleasure." Ducky said. "Now that drugs testing kit. The chances of our Petty Officer being drugged is very slim, but when Jethro says something it gets done."

"Trust me, I know the feeling." Owen replied. "Drug kit's over here."

* * * * *

"Sit down, Commander." Gibbs said harshly.

"Are we doing the good cop, bad cop routine?" Jack whispered in Gibbs' ear. "Cos, I've been practising my bad cop, with a little help from Ianto, of course. I-."

"Sorry, Captain." Gibbs interrupted. "US Navy Commander equals my interrogation. You can observe."

"Sure." Jack replied grudgingly, and walked over to stand by the door. The two of them had turned Commander Barlow's own office into a makeshift interrogation room. The Commander himself seated in the visitor's chair, while Gibbs took his own chair behind the desk.

"You can't keep me here!" The Commander protested. "This is my office, you can't keep me cuffed; I've done nothing wrong."

"So you say." Gibbs said with a sigh. "You can play the tape, Harkness."

Jack gave a brief grin and turned to press play on the portable TV. The three of them watched in silence as the Commander threatened Petty Officer Reilly. After five minutes Gibbs signalled for Jack to stop it.

"Can you tell us why you were making these threats?" Gibbs asked, his eye unwavering from the Commanders.

"Since when is it against the law to speak strictly to an inferior?"

"Since you threaten him with dishonourable discharge."

"Double punishment duty for no reason." Jack cut in.

"And death." Gibbs finished.

"I don't deny saying those things." The Commander said.

"You can't anyway, we have proof." Gibbs replied.

"I was only saying those things to get him to work harder and perhaps not talk back to us superiors all the time." Commander Barlow insisted.

"Sure you were." Gibbs said, not believe him the slightest. Suddenly Jack's phone rang and the Captain muttered an apology before picking up.

"Yeah?"

"_Jack-_" Ianto answered.

"Hey Ianto." Jack said suggestively, a grin appearing on his face.

"_Not now, Jack. We've found traces of drugs in Petty Officer's dorm, behind the lockers. It looks likes someone was trying to hide it there._"

"Any idea who?" Jack replied, glancing at Gibbs who frowned, not hearing the other half of the conversation.

"_Not yet, but Tony's confirmed that it's cocaine._"

"Ok, thanks Ianto." Jack said, and hung up.

Gibbs raised his eyes in question and Jack waved him over out of earshot of the Commander.

"They found traces of drugs in Petty Officer Reilly's dorm. Your guy confirmed it as cocaine."

Gibbs nodded, and Jack continued. "It looked like it had been hidden, stuffed behind the locker. Nothing left there now, of course."

"That doesn't mean our Commander here is off the hook, he could have easily hidden it there, made it look like it was Reilly's."

"I know, but where does the Weevil fit into all this? Who brought it on board? The Commander?" Jack said somewhat sceptically, as though there was no possible way a man like Commander Barlow could have captured a Weevil.

"I don't know, Captain. I just don't know." Gibbs admitted grimly.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: **I own not.

_Hope you enjoy this next chapter. :) Feel free to R & R. _

* * *

Chapter Eight

"Goldfinger is the best Bond film; you can't deny it, Tony." Ianto told him as they dusted the dorm for fingerprints. Nobody really expected any results, but it had to be done anyway.

"It's good, I'll give you that. But the best?" Tony cocked an eyebrow.

"Is he always like this?" Gwen asked Ziva from the other side of the dorm.

"Do not get me started on all his movie talk." Ziva replied.

"That bad, huh."

"You have no idea." Ziva answered wearily. "He never shuts up."

"Hey! I heard that!" Tony complained, causing both women to snigger. "And I don't always talk about movies."

"He's right. He talks about all the women he has slept with too." Ziva said. "How could I forget that." she mockingly slapped herself on the forehead while Tony rolled his eyes and Gwen and Ianto laughed.

"Sounds a bit like Owen in that respect." Ianto said to Gwen and she nodded in accord.

"Whoa!" Tony suddenly exclaimed from over near the locker he was dusting.

"What is it, Tony?" Ziva asked.

"Check this out. The whole locker is completely clean."

"Not a single finger print?" Ianto asked, surprised.

"Not one." Tony confirmed, gesturing to the locker itself.

"But it's a locker." Gwen pointed out the obvious. "There should be thousands of different prints."

"Exactly." Ziva answered her and the four of them exchanged a worried glance.

* * * * *

"Tell us, Commander." Gibbs began, back in Barlow's own office. "Did you go ashore when you were docked at Portsmouth?"

"Of course I did, wouldn't you?" The Commander answered. Neither Gibbs nor Jack responded to his question.

"Where did you go when you got ashore, Commander?" Gibbs asked.

"I didn't go to this Cardiff place if that's what you mean." Commander Barlow replied. Standing by the doorway, Jack cocked an eyebrow.

"Then where did you go?" Gibbs repeated.

The Commander opened his mouth, ready to reply, but paused when Gibbs' phone rang. The NCIS boss flipped the phone open, recognising the caller ID as McGee.

"What have you got, McGee?" Gibbs growled.

"_Um... I... didn't disturb you or anything, did I, boss_?" McGee's quivering voice sounded in his ear.

"Just tell me what you've got." Gibbs sighed.

"_Sorry, boss. Yeah I know it's a sign of weakness, but I...uh... just wanted to let you know that there was no more footage of the Commander in the system._"

"Is that all, McGee?"

"_No... There was not much that that creature either. We only got a glimpse, but it's hard to tell whether it's the creature or not. Even Tosh can't tell the difference. Anyway, whoever smuggled it on board definitely knew how to avoid the cameras."_

"Ok, thanks McGee." Gibbs praised the junior field agent and snapped his phone shut again. Jack shot him a quizzical look from across the room, but Gibbs waved it away, before turning back to the confusing looking Commander.

"I'll ask again. Where did you go?"

"Where do you think I went?" the Commander responded, with a sigh.

"Brothel?" Jack asked and the Commander nodded, only a hint of embarrassment in his body language. "How long were you there for?"

"I don't know. I wasn't exactly timing, was I?"

"Oh, I know someone who does." Jack flashed his trademark grin.

"Harkness." Gibbs growled a warning and Jack nodded an apology.

"Did you stay at Portsmouth?" The NCIS leader turned his attention back to the Commander.

"Yes." Commander Barlow answered flatly. "I needed to be close to this ship in case of an emergency, didn't I?"

"Can anyone confirm this?"

"No."

"Right." Gibbs stated, pulling something out of his jacket pocket. "Ever seen this before?" He showed the Commander a picture of the Wales Millennium Centre and the water tower. No flash of recognition flashed across his face as he studied the picture.

"No, I haven't." The Commander was sincere and Jack and Gibbs exchanged glances. Either this guy was telling the truth, or he was very good at lying. "And I've never seen that creature in my entire life, before these past two days of course."

Gibbs turned to Jack once again, before getting up and going over to talk with him. They closed the door behind them, leaving the Commander in the room.

"He's telling the truth." Jack stated.

"How do you know?"

"I know Weevils, Gibbs." Jack stated. "And he didn't recognise the Millennium Centre on that card I gave you. If he had been chasing the Weevil, he would have almost certainly seen it. If any Weevil is being chased it immediately goes to a crowed area, such as around the Millennium Centre. They aren't as dumb as they look."

"Dumb isn't the word I'd use to describe them." Gibbs muttered.

"Besides that, they are also very vicious."

"That's a better word." Gibbs nodded approvingly.

"Point is, that there is no way the Commander would have been able to get his hands on a Weevil without getting at least a few cuts, abrasions, bruises."

Gibbs nodded. "I'll call Ducky and Palmer and have them check him over."

"Tell them to bring Owen, too. He'll know what he's looking for." Jack added as Gibbs snapped open his phone and dialled.

"What did McGee find?" Jack asked him, once Gibbs had hung up.

"Nothing." Gibbs told him. "There was no footage of that creature on any of the tapes."

"So whoever smuggled it on board knew how to avoid the cameras." Jack confirmed and Gibbs tilted his head. Five minutes later the three medics arrived.

"Before I start examining another patient, I need to let you know that Petty Officer Reilly was a perfect picture of health, non smoker, non drinker and there was no drugs in him system. I'm afraid to say he had nothing to do with his own death."

"Thanks, Duck." Gibbs told the M.E.

"I'm always happy to help, Jethro. You know that." Ducky replied. "Which reminds me, what can I do for you now?"

"The Captain here says that no one can contain a Weevil without getting a quite a few cuts and scratches."

"Unless you've got Weevil Spray." Owen added in and Jack nodded.

"And there is no way he would have got a hold of that." Jack said, adamantly.

"Anyway, we need you all the check over Commander Barlow, make sure he has no recent cuts. Two weeks at the latest." Gibbs informed.

"Owen will be able to differentiate between Weevil cuts and others." Jack told the NCIS medic and Owen nodded.

"Ok then, sounds easy enough. Come on Mr. Palmer, you can come in too." Ducky muttered to his assistant, as Jimmy was hesitant to follow. The door opened and Jack and Gibbs caught a glimpse of the Commander, still seated in the visitor's chair before the door was closed again, giving him some privacy.

"And now we wait." Jack stated rather obviously and when he received no reply from Gibbs he went on. "Those others in Reilly's dorm, they're still on board right?"

"Yeah." Gibbs replied as though it were a stupid question. "Tony and Ziva left them in the mess hall with a Senior Petty Officer for supervision when McGee was injured."

"And you've left them there?" Jack questioned.

"Yep." Gibbs told him. "We'll get back to them. Give them time to stew, just in case they have done something wrong." Jack considered this.

"Good technique." He said and Gibbs nodded. "You got a list of their names?"

Gibbs frowned but handed the Captain his notebook with the list of six names.

"You can tell a lot about someone from their name." Jack told him. "Then again, that might just be Welsh names."

"Uh huh." Gibbs grunted. They were silent as Jack studied the list of Petty Officers, just being able to make out Gibbs' handwriting.

_PO Lennon Hall_

_PO James Meyer_

_PO Ryan Jones_

_PO Tom Harris_

_PO Jacob Wightman_

_PO Brian Gray_

"Ok, it's just the Welsh names." Jack said with a grin, which Gibbs, surprisingly, returned. The door of the Commander's office opened.

"Nothing." Owen told them. "Not a scratch on the guy."

Gibbs turned to Jack. "He's innocent?"

"I'm afraid so, Jethro. Dr. Harper and I have agreed. There is no way Commander Barlow was anywhere near that creature."

* * * * *

"How can a locker that is used every day be completely clean?" Ianto question to nobody in particular.

"Do they have cleaners or something on board?" Gwen asked.

"Yeah, but they wouldn't go to this level of removal." Tony told her, dusting the locker a second time.

"Someone is definitely trying very hard to hide something." Ziva said.

"Yeah, but not that hard." Tony said, the elation was obvious in his voice. "We've found a partial print."

"Really?" Ziva sounded surprised.

"Yep, definitely a print." Gwen confirmed, bending down for a closer look, her days in the police force paying off.

"Will Abby be able to ID whose it is?" Ziva asked.

Tony glanced up at the three faces. "I don't know. But knowing Abby, she'll find a way."

"I'll call Gibbs." "I'll call Jack." Ziva and Ianto spoke at the same time. They flashed a smile at each other before putting the phones to their ears.

"Good, cos I think they're going to want to know about this." Tony told them with a grim smile.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

"So what's it like fighting aliens?" Tony asked, as they headed back to the Jack, Gibbs and the others, the partial print with them.

Ianto and Gwen exchanged a glance before Ianto replied. "We can't exactly tell you all the details, but it's-" Ianto paused, lost at how to describe the work they did for a living.

"Interesting?" Gwen said, not sounding 100% sure of herself.

"Oh it's interesting, I'll give you that. Especially with Jack as your leader." Ianto agreed.

"From what I've seen, I can just imagine." Ziva said with a smile.

"And what have you seen, Zee-vah?" Tony inquired, a hint of jealousy in his voice of which Ziva was very pleased.

"Nothing that should be making you jealous, DiNozzo." Jack himself said, suddenly appearing out of a doorway in front of them. "Unfortunately." he added as an afterthought and Ianto hit him playfully on the arm.

"Did you find anything else?" Gibbs appeared behind Jack, closing the door on the Commander's Office, where little more interrogating had occurred.

"There was a partial print further up on the locker, boss." Tony answered, holding up a plastic sheet with the finger imprint on it. The other three nodded in confirmation.

"Get it to Abby, we need to know whose it is ASAP." Gibbs replied.

"I've got it, Gibbs." Ziva answered.

"Good, then meet back up with the other three. They'll need your help" Gibbs told her. Ziva nodded then quickly snatched the sheet out of Tony's grasp before walking away, swinging her hips.

"Anything else?" Jack asked, directing his question more at Gwen and Ianto, than Tony.

"Nothing." Gwen replied. "What about you?"

"Well the Commander's off the hook." Jack told them.

"He was on the hook?" And Jack nodded.

"Found footage of him threatening Petty Officer Reilly, but there was no way he got the Weevil. He spent the whole time ashore in a brothel."

"As you do." Ianto muttered sarcastically.

"And he's got no cuts from Weevil claws." Jack informed them further.

"Right." Gibbs interrupted. "DiNozzo, take Mr. Jones and Ms. Cooper with you and start questioning those in Reilly's dorm." Gibbs said. If Jack was uncomfortable with the NCIS leader bossing his team around, it didn't show.

"On it, boss." Tony replied and already began to walk away, knowing exactly what questions to ask the other Petty Officers.

"See you later then." Ianto told Jack with a slightly sad smile, which Jack returned, before the Welshmen turned to follow Tony, along with Gwen.

"You coming, Harkness?" Gibbs asked, and Jack tore his gaze away from the retreating figures of his team.

"Where to?"

"Abby, see if she's found a match yet." Jack frowned but followed him anyway, thinking it was a bit hopeful wanting to know that quickly. Although he didn't know Abby, maybe she was really good.

* * * * *

"I have another print for you to send to Abby, McGee." Ziva announced herself to the junior field agent and Tosh, who was keeping him company.

"Really? Where did you get it from?" McGee asked, taking the sheet off Ziva and examining it.

"On the locker in Petty Officer Reilly's dorm, right above some cocaine residue." Ziva answered.

"You think that whoever left that print, also left the cocaine?" Tosh asked and Ziva nodded.

"It's possible. The entire locker was completely clean, which was very unusual. This was all we found."

"This is only a partial." McGee stated.

"Tell Abby we're sorry, but that's all we found." Ziva repeated.

"Will do. Thanks, Ziva." McGee replied with a nod.

"Anytime." Ziva said before pausing. "How are you feeling?"

"A lot better." McGee said.

"He's still on a big dose of drugs for the pain." Tosh added and Ziva nodded knowingly.

"Well, that's good to hear." Ziva said, her voice sincere. "I'd better catch up with Tony, Gwen and Ianto. They'll need my help with questioning the other Petty Officers."

"Sure." McGee answered, trying not to show his disappointment at not being able to go with her. Ziva waved a goodbye before leaving the two of them. Seconds after leaving the room, McGee had already tapped into the video link between the laptop and Abby's lab.

"Hey Abs!" he smiled as her face appeared on the screen.

"Hey McGee!" she replied, returning the smile. "And hey Toshiko." She added, guessing who the Asian in the corner of the screen way.

"Hi Abby." Tosh gave a small wave.

"We've got another print for you. It's only a partial, but we need to know whose it is." McGee told her. "I've just emailed it."

"How are you feeling?" Abby asked, ignoring the email.

"Fine, Abby." McGee promised and Abby squinted her eyes, unbelievingly.

"He's fine, Abby." Tosh added. "Really."

"Ok." Abby said. "But you're still getting a big hug when you get back, alright Tim."

"Sure." McGee grinned. "But now-"

"The partial, I know."Abby turned and once again tapped at her screen to receive the email. "Got it." she turned and flashed a smile at the camera. "I'll let you know when we've got a match."

"We?" Tosh questioned.

"Me and my babies." Abby spread her arms wide, gesturing to her entire lab.

"Babies?" Tosh further questioned and raised an eyebrow in McGee's direction.

"All her machines and equipment." McGee explained. "They're her babies."

"Oh." Tosh nodded her head, missing the smile McGee and Abby shared.

"Don't worry Tosh, Abby's a bit weird like that." McGee said, flashing another fond smile in Abby's direction.

"Yup." Abby agreed, "I love my babies!"

"You know I can actually sort of see where you're coming from, Abby." Tosh said, thinking back to her own computer back in Cardiff and how she hated it when anyone else messed with it.

"See, McGee, we're not the only ones who care about their computers and equipment." Abby replied, smiling at them both.

"Hey, I don't call my computer my 'baby.'" McGee protested, and Tosh and Abby laughed.

"Sure you don't, McGee." Gibbs said, entering the room. "Still got Abby there?"

"Is that Gibbs?" Abby asked on screen, her face lighting up even more when McGee nodded before he was unceremoniously pushed to the side so the boss could speak to his favourite.

"Gibbs! Hello!"

"Hey Abs, you got a match on that print yet?"

"Patience, Gibbs. It's only a partial; it's going to take a while." Abby told him. "Although, it would take less if I had a Caf-Pow." she pouted knowing he couldn't get one to her.

"It's in your fridge, Abs." Gibbs smiled as she gave a squeal of delight and ran off camera, returning moments later, sucking on the straw of a Caf-Pow.

"How did you do that?" Abby asked, amazed. "That so wasn't there before." She waggled a finger at him. Gibbs responded with a shrug and a grin.

"Stop being magical, Gibbs. It's not fair on us!" Abby scolded.

"Sorry, Abs."

"That's ok." Abby grinned, taking another suck on her Caf-Pow. "And I'll let you know when AFIS has found a match."

"Thanks." Gibbs blew her a kiss, which Abby returned. She was about to say something when the computer behind her beeped.

"Oh, my baby is calling." Placing the Caf-Pow on a bench, she tapped away at the keyboard for a moment, finally bringing up the results. Turning back to the camera she grinning at the faces of Jack, Tosh, McGee and Gibbs all squashed into the one frame.

"We've got a match." She told them.

"Who is it, Abby?" McGee asked first.

"Patience." She grinned somewhat evilly at the four of them.

"Abby." Gibbs warned.

"Ok, ok." She told him. "Does the name Tom Harris mean anything to anyone?"

Jack immediately turned to look at Gibbs, who was staring directly back. He'd read the name Tom Harris only 15 or so minutes earlier. He was one of Petty Officer Reilly's roommates.


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: **The below character belong mostly to the BBC and CBS

_Finally some action/drama! :) Hope you enjoy._

* * *

Chapter Ten

Tony stretched and gave a yawn as the third Petty Officer left the mess hall. "Why do we always get the crappy jobs?" he complained to the others. "I hate interrogating people for no reason."

"There is always a reason, Tony." Ziva reminded him. "We just do not know what it is yet."

"This is a crappy job?" Gwen raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Seriously? You people have no idea." And Ianto gave a nod of confirmation. Tony leaned forward again with a frown, curiosity getting the better of him as always.

"Why? What's the crappiest job you guys have ever had to do?" He asked.

"Do you want the whole list?" Ianto asked, deadpanned. Tony opened his mouth to reply, but Ziva glared at him.

"Uh... no... We've got more people to interrogate." Tony said, and Ziva nodded.

"Now that is the right answer, Tony." She told him, before going back out into the 'waiting room' to collect the next Petty Officer. Tony threw an apologetic look at Ianto, who nodded in understanding. Ziva had just entered the room with the pale looking Petty Officer when her phone rang. Muttering a curse in Hebrew, she led the Petty Officer back outside before answering it.

"_Ziva!_" It was McGee. "_Have you interviewed one Petty Officer Tom Harris?_" Ziva frowned and repeated the question to Tony who shook his head.

"No." Ziva told the junior field agent. "Why?"

"_Ok. Leave him for Gibbs. Abby just identified the partial print as his on that clean locker in their dorm_." McGee rushed.

"You think he did it?"

"_Can't be sure until Gibbs interrogates him, but it's looking that way_." McGee told her. "_Him and Jack are on their way over now, thought you could do with a few minutes' notice of that."_

"Ok, thanks McGee." Ziva told him before hanging up and turning to the three inquiring faces of Tony, Gwen and Ianto.

"Abby found a match to the print we pulled off the locker." Ziva told them.

"And?" Gwen questioned.

"And it matched Petty Officer Tom Harris." Ziva replied and Tony glanced at the list of Petty Officers.

"He was next." He told them. "That pale faced one."

"This one?" Gibbs suddenly walked a strong grip on the Petty Officer's shoulder; they were followed closely by Jack.

"Yeah boss."

"Look, I haven't done anything wrong, really." Petty Officer Tom Harris blurted to anyone who was willing to listen.

"Really?" Jack cocked an eyebrow, disbelievingly.

"Well... I mean... not really... uh... not actually... honest, sir." Harris stuttered, as though he was not only nervous, but also afraid.

"Sit down." Gibbs barked at him, roughly helping him into a chair.

"Ok, ok." Harris complained at Gibbs' slight violence. "Geez!"

Gibbs ignored him as he turned to face the others. "Tony, Ziva, take Mr. Jones and Ms. Cooper over there to observe." he pointed to the other side of the mess hall.

"Of course, Gibbs." Ziva replied and gave a slight not of the head so the others followed.

"What about me?"

"You're staying here, Captain." Gibbs told Jack. "I'm sure you can come up with a few questions that are relevant."

Jack nodded, but took a step back as Gibbs leaned over the desk, inches away from Petty Officer Harris' face.

"You going to tell us where you got the cocaine, Petty Officer?" Intimidated Gibbs.

"Cocaine? What cocaine?" Harris blinked innocently and Gibbs rolled his eyes. This guy was reminding him of a typical argumentative teen, despite his slightly jumpy manner.

"That's fooling nobody, you know that. We found your finger print right above drug reside."

"But I cleaned that -" Tom Harris began, before he realised what he had said. The young Petty Officer sighed, and tucked his hands into his jacket pocket. "Well it was worth a try. I got it from Reilly, alright."

"Our dead marine sold you the cocaine." Gibbs' tone was quizzical.

"Yeah, it was only because he wanted to get rid of it." Tom Harris fidgeted slightly.

"Why was that?" Jack asked and the Petty Officer's glance flickered up to Jack's face.

"He wanted to stop taking it. He'd been on coke for a while, but decided to give it up. I think he was afraid of getting caught by the Commander or something. They didn't get along well."

"We know. Did you go ashore when you ported in the UK, Petty Officer?"

"Yeah?" There was a quizzical tone in his voice.

"Did you go to a place called Cardiff?" Jack asked.

"Maybe. I can't remember its name, but everyone in our dorm took a bus to another city; we didn't stay in Portsmouth. Wanted to get away from everyone else, you know."

Gibbs sighed and pulled out the picture of the Millennium Centre once again. "Did you see this?"

"Yeah, hard to miss that was." Harris frowned slightly. "Why? Is that in this Cardiff place?"

"Yeah." Jack told him. "Now, are you going to tell us why you brought one of these back with you on board the USS George H.W. Bush?" Jack pulled out a picture of a Weevil.

* * * * *

"There is something about this Tom Harris that really beetles me." Ziva said, from where she watched the interrogation from the other side of the room.

"Beetles?" Ianto raised an eyebrow.

"She means bugs." Tony told him, before glancing a concerned look at Ziva. "What is it?"

"I do not know. I just have this strange feeling."

"Uh huh, like when we were aboard the Chimera?" And Ziva nodded.

"Sort of, it is a similar feeling."

"Don't worry, Gibbs'll break him, he'll confess, you know the drill and then we can all go home." Tony assured her, but didn't fail to notice the frown still present on Mossad Agent's face.

* * * * *

"My God, what is that thing? Is that a mask or something?" The Petty Officer cried out.

"No, that's an Alien, Harris." Jack told him firmly, kneeling down to be at eye level with the Petty Officer. "An Alien that you mistreated, pumped full of cocaine and set lose on this ship." Jack's voice rose with anger as his sentence progressed.

"I didn't. Reilly was my friend, I'd never set that thing on him." Harris looked wildly at the two leaders of their separate organisations.

"We never said you set that creature on Reilly, only that you set it lose on the ship." Gibbs reminded the young Petty Officer.

"Ah..." Harris' shoulders slumped as he, again, realised he'd said the wrong thing.

"Why'd you do it, Petty Officer?" Gibbs asked, his voice quiet; the calm before the storm.

"I..." Harris shifted uncomfortably in his chair, both his hands still in his pockets.

And it was at that moment that Ziva realised. And on the other side of the room, she could only watch as Harris looked up at Jack and Gibbs, a strange glint in his eyes. It was mere seconds from that glance to the now hysteric Petty Officer leaping up and producing a small gun from his jacket pocket.

Tony was the first to react, closely followed by the other three on the opposite side of the mess hall. "We're federal agents, drop you weapon, Harris!"

"Drop it." Gwen yelled.

"No, you drop yours or both your bosses get matching bullet holes." Harris replied, an edge of hysteria in his voice. None of them dropped their weapons; merely lowered them, slightly.

"Why are you doing this, Harris?" Gibbs calmly ask him.

"It's all my fault." The Petty Officer was panting, a crazed look in his eyes. "All my fault. I didn't mean to. It was meant as just a prank. I swear that's all it was. That thing, that creature was all subdued when I first saw it outside that Centre thing you showed me." Harris jerked the gun in Jack's direction, gesturing to him; the Captain didn't even flinch. "It was easy to smuggle back on board. I knew the cameras and how to avoid them. I persuaded the others to go ahead, so they wouldn't suspect anything."

"What did you do with it?" Jack asked, his voice equally calm.

"Kept it down in one of the unused store cupboards. No one ever goes down there anyway. I just wanted to scare him, it was a prank." Harris repeated, the aimed somewhere between Gibbs and Jack. The former was kicking himself for not cuffing the Petty Officer when he had the chance. "I didn't think it would go all crazy when I gave it the coke. I just wanted it to act a bit scarier so I could frighten my friend."

"It's an Alien, Harris. What did you think would happen!?" Jack yelled at him.

"I dunno! I thought it was an experiment gone wrong or something."

"Just lower the gun, Harris and we can just forget all about this." Gibbs negotiated.

"Forget it?" The Petty Officer gave a sarcastic laugh. "I caused the death of a friend. Nothing is going to reverse it. I'm going to shoot you all and then blow my brains out."

"You really don't want to do that." Gibbs told him, slowly reaching out to Harris and ignoring Jack who had moved to position himself directly behind him.

"The hell I do." Harris told him, his voice lowered to a whisper as he lowered his gun slightly, directly pointing at Gibbs' heart. On the other side of the room Tony, Ziva, Gwen and Ianto had all come to an unspoken agreement to shoot Harris if he pulled the trigger.

He did.

It all happened so quickly, before the bullet had even left the barrel, four anticipated bullets hit Harris squarely in the chest and he collapsed in an instant; the gun skidding along the ground and out of everyone's reach. At the last possible second, before Harris' bullet could hit Gibbs, Jack who had cleverly got himself into the right position, pushed the NCIS boss to the side, sending him sprawling.

The bullet hit Jack, directly above his heart and he fell to the ground. It was all a blur for Gibbs who only saw flashes of painful images of the last person who took a bullet for him; it hadn't ended well for her either and after that Gibbs had sworn he'd never let it happen again.

"Jack!" Ianto and Gwen knelt beside their fallen leader and Gibbs bit back a curse.

"Yan…" The Captain's voice was strained.

"It's ok, Jack." Ianto told him. "I'm here."

"I'm sorry, Ianto." Jack grunted and he lifted a hand and caressed young Welshman's cheek. "I'm so sorry." Jack held Ianto's gaze for a few strong seconds, before Gwen interrupted by pressing a cloth to the Captain's wound and applying pressure.

Ziva, Tony and Gibbs could only watch as the others tried in vain to save Jack. Everyone in the room knew that there was no hope and Jack soon closed his eyes, signalling what appeared to be the end.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

Before anyone could react or check on Harris, the door of the mess hall was kicked off its hinges, revealing Owen, Tosh and a fair distance behind them: McGee, Ducky and Mr. Palmer. Three of the five had their guns drawn, expecting the worst. There was no sign of any of the other Petty Officers from Reilly's dorm behind them.

"We heard gun shots." Owen breathed deeply, his eyes darting around the room, halting briefly on the now dead Petty Officer and coming to rest at Jack. "Shit." Owen muttered and he moved through the doorway and over to Gwen and Ianto.

"It's clear." Tosh turned to address McGee, Ducky and Mr. Palmer as she holstered her weapon, before following Owen.

"What happened?" McGee asked to the room in general, as he passed through the doorway.

"Tom Harris happened, Probie." Tony muttered, rather solemnly, nodding first in the direction of the Petty Officer's body and then over where Jack lay. McGee shut his eyes and his mouth opened in a small 'oh' of understanding.

Ducky and Mr. Palmer immediately went to the aid of Jack, despite knowing there was nothing they could do. Ducky brushed his fingers against Jack's neck feeling for a pulse; there was none. The older medic bowed his head and muttered his condolences to Gwen, Ianto, Tosh and Owen, before turning to question Gibbs.

"What happened here, Jethro?" Ducky asked calmly.

"He saved my life, Duck." Gibbs muttered, blinking a few more times than necessary.

"Oh, Jethro." Ducky immediately put a comforting hand on his shoulder, his thoughts, like Gibbs', going back to when Kate was shot after saving Gibbs' life.

'It all happened so quickly." Gibbs went on. "Harris pulled out a gun, it was aimed at me. I tried to negotiate, but the kid was in hysterics, he was the one that did it. It was just a prank gone wrong, Duck."

"But how..."

"The Captain anticipated what was going to happen, he'd already positioned himself behind me and when the trigger was pulled he threw me out of the way and took the bullet himself." Gibbs, ignoring the concerned looks from both Ducky and his assistant, turned to look over at Jack, where his team had gathered around him. He was almost shocked to see that only one of them was crying. The others all looked content and their medic was just looking annoyed. Gibbs sighed.

"Everyone handles their grief differently, I spose." he muttered, quietly.

McGee, who had silently been listening to their conversation now turned back to Ziva and Tony, who were seated on the uncomfortable looking chairs of the mess hall. Tony, once again, had his arms around the Mossad agent in comfort and McGee smiled sadly at them.

"That could have easily been Gibbs." Ziva muttered, her eyes glued to the unmoving form of Captain Harkness.

"We know." Tony answered her, glancing up at McGee briefly.

"He must have known he'd get shot." McGee told them. "He did it all on purpose."

"Gibbs isn't going to be happy is he?" Tony stated; there was a hint of frustration in his voice, as though he was annoyed at himself about not being able to do anything. None of them answered him.

"Did you want me to get the gurney, Doctor?" Mr. Palmer asked, very unsure of himself and what to do.

"Not yet, Mr. Palmer. We will leave that for Dr. Harper. I am sure he will inform us if they need our assistance."

"Yes, Doctor."

Ducky turned away to face Gibbs again, and watched at he slowly got up from the ground; he hadn't moved since he had been pushed. The NCIS leader walked slowly over to the Torchwood team, his eyes on their dead Captain. Someone, he presumed Ianto, had closed Jack's eyes. It would have looked like he was asleep if it weren't for the seeping bullet hole in his chest, and the pool of blood slowly forming around the Captain.

"You have my condolences." Gibbs told them, his voice low and grave. The four of them looked up at Gibbs before turning to glance at each other as though conducting a silence conversation.

"Thank you." Gwen told him a few moments later with a small smile. Gibbs nodded and without another word turned towards his own team, leaving the team on their own.

"What the bloody hell are we meant to do now?" Owen growled at them, making sure his voice was unheard by all of the NCIS agents.

"I don't know, Owen." Ianto told him. "Jack didn't exactly plan on getting shot."

"There's nothing we can do." Tosh stated with a frown. "Jack is going to wake up any minute now and they are all going to find out."

"Can't we just retcon them?" Gwen asked and Ianto nodded at her suggestion.

"It's possible. But I'd rather we checked with Jack first." Ianto replied.

"Ok." Owen glanced up at the NCIS crew, all engrossed in their own quiet conversations. "Their medic is going to want to give us a hand. We're going to have to come up with something."

"We can't, Owen!" Tosh told him, his voice rising ever so slightly.

"Ok, fine." Owen looked like he was thinking hard for a moment. "Excuse me, Dr. Mallard." He asked.

"Dr. Harper?"

"Could you get your gurney for us? We didn't bring ours." Owen told him, ignoring the looks from the three surrounding him.

"Of course." Ducky nodded his head and turned to his assistant. "Mr. Palmer, you can get the gurney now, please."

"Sure, Doctor." Jimmy replied and immediately trotted off to fetch the item in question.

"What was that?" Gwen asked Owen in a hushed, angry whisper. "Asking their medic for help?"

"Tosh was right. They're going to find out anyway, there is nothing we can do." Owen replied. "Besides, I thought it would be a good idea to get at least one of them out of the room for when Jack wakes up." Ianto nodded slightly and the four of them elapsed into silence. Minutes passed and still Jack had not yet woken up.

"Come on, Jack!" Gwen told him, as though that would make it all go faster.

"I've got the gurney, Doctor." Mr. Palmer had returned, and the four Torchwood employees looked up at him in shock.

"Thank you, Mr. Palmer." Ducky replied. "Over here, if you will."

Gwen, Tosh, Ianto and Owen could only watch in fear of what was to come as the two NCIS medic positioned the gurney beside Jack, in order to place him on it.

"We have to tell them, Owen." Ianto told him, deciding on the spur of the moment.

"What do you have to tell us, Dr. Harper?" Gibbs was back and listening to their conversation. Gwen, Tosh, Ianto and Owen all stood up to face Gibbs and his team.

"You see the thing is..." Owen began, rather clumsily. "The thing about Jack is that..."

At that perfectly timed moment, there was a loud gasp from the floor and Jack eyes flickered open again.

"... Can't die." Owen finished and they parted to show Jack, now sitting up and looking rather bashful, a rare thing for the Captain.

Everyone in the room reacted immediately. Palmer's eyes rolled back into his head and he fainted, caught by a stunned Tony, who carefully lowered the medical assistant to the ground; never taking his eyes of the recently resurrected Captain. McGee's jaw hit the ground in complete shock; if he'd been any less experienced, the junior field agent was sure he would have wet himself. Ziva stood perfectly still blinking a few times as though she didn't quite believe what she was seeing and Gibbs simply looked as though he didn't know how to react.

Ducky, however, who after his chat with Owen, was not particularly surprised, merely shook his head and made an incoherent comment about his poor assistant before turning back to Jack.

"Good to see you well again, Captain." Ducky smiled, oblivious to the stunned looks of his friends and colleagues.

"It's good to be back." Jack told him with a smile.

"I..." For once, Gibbs was at a loss of words.

"Anytime, Gibbs." Jack told him, guessing he was about to say thanks and Gibbs nodded in reply.

"Is that technically possible?" Ziva asked.

"No." Tony told her. "Not unless you're a character in one of those online games that McGeek plays."

"Hey!" McGee protested, his jaw now off the ground and received a grin from Tony. Everyone's mood had considerably lightened with the return of Jack.

"I don't even want to know." Gibbs finally found his voice and shaking his head at the overall absurdness of the situation.

"I wasn't going to share." Jack told him with a grin and took Gibbs' offered hand, which pulled him up.

"Gaaahhh!" Jack groaned and in an instant Ianto was there to support him.

"You ok?" Gwen asked him, appearing on the Captain's other side.

"Yeah." Jack told them, rubbing his chest. "But, I'm going to have quite a painful chest ache for a while. I really need to stop getting shot."

"Rather you than me, if you don't mind me saying." Gibbs told him.

"I don't mind at all." Jack replied with a genuine smile.

* * *

A/N: _For all those out there who don't watch Torchwood - Jack actually can't die, it's not something I've made up. And it's very convienient when it comes to writing too. :) For everyone - Hope you enjoyed this, only a few more chapters to go. Please R & R. :) Thank you!_


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer:** Everyone below belongs to other, probably important, people.

_Second last chapter, everyone. Thanks for everyone's reviews and subsciptions, it's all been most appreciated. Just like to say a special thanks to Obwohl for all her questions which demanded answering. :P _

_Enjoy!_

* * *

Chapter Twelve

Ducky shook his head sadly as zipped Petty Officer Tom Harris into the body bag. "I think it's safe to say death by gunshot, Jethro." he told Gibbs who was standing at his shoulder.

"Any idea as to why he did it, Duck?"

"Best guess, psychoneurosis. More commonly known as Hysteria." Ducky told him. "The shock of accidently causing his friend death would have caused that effect, poor fellow. From what you have told me, his actions are some of the most severe I have ever heard of. There was this case once, though, where a women, who was completely -"

"Yeah, thanks, Duck." Gibbs interrupted the medic and flashed him a smile.

"You're most welcome, Jethro." Ducky replied, returning the smile. "Now, Mr. Palmer."

"Uh... yes Doctor?" Mr. Palmer was once again conscious and after being looked over by Owen, had stayed seated, not trusting himself to look at Jack for too long.

"Oh, never mind." Ducky shook his head. "You just stay there; I'll get Dr. Harper to help me."

Mr. Palmer gave a nod and watched as Ducky and Owen carried the gurney out of the room.

"Owen?" Ducky said to the Torchwood medic once they were out of earshot of the others.

"Ducky?" Owen replied.

"I forgot to let you know; but your secret is safe with me." Ducky winked and Owen gave a nod of thanks in return.

"It's probably for the best. I'm not sure your assistant Mr. Palmer could take it, if he knew."

"You're quite right, my friend. Quite right."

* * * * *

"I'm sorry, Ianto." Jack told his lover, like he had before. The two of them were seated a fair distance away from the others in the mess hall and Tony's loud conversing was enough to cover up anything they said.

"I know you are, Jack." Ianto told him with a smile. "You always are."

"But… I just know you hate watching me die."

"I do, but I cope with it." Ianto paused and looked directly into his Captain's blue eyes. "You know I do."

"Just as I cope, when I watch those I love die." Jack replied, putting the tiniest pause around the word 'love'.

Ianto, knowing he didn't really need to reply, simply leaned in and pressed a tender kiss to Jack's lips, not caring whether the others noticed or not.

* * * * *

"So you're boss can't die?" Tony asked, amazed at the concept.

"Yeah." Gwen told him.

"That must have some advantages." Ziva commented, with an incredulous shake of her head.

"Yeah…" Gwen tried to sound convincing, despite knowing Jack's immortality was more a curse than an advantage.

"I'd say it does." Gibbs said, returning to the group from where he had been making a phone call to the Director in the corner of the room.

"Course you do, boss." Tony grinned.

"You can't blame him, though." McGee said to Tony.

"Too true." Gibbs agreed again.

"You wouldn't be here if it weren't for the Captain." Tony stated. "And I mean that as good thing… good that you're not dead, that is." Tony scrambled around to make his boss understand what he meant.

"Did I hear my name?" Jack asked, suddenly appearing beside Gwen, hand in hand with Ianto.

"Not at all, Captain." Gibbs said, flashing another un-Gibbs-like grin at both the Torchwood and NCIS employees alike.

Jack narrowed his eyes in mock suspicion and they all laughed. "Shame we've gotta get back soon." Jack sighed.

"When does the plane leave?" Ziva asked to anyone who knew the answer.

"Whenever." Gibbs told them all. "It's on standby on the runway. I just have to give the all clear before we leave so they can organise for the rest of the crew to come back on board."

There was a rather contented pause before Ziva broke the silence.

"Do we know how Harris got a non-military weapon onboard?" She asked. Everyone turned to Gibbs' expectantly.

The grey-haired NCIS agent shrugged. "No idea. But I'd take a guess that he picked it up when they ported somewhere, or simply brought it with him from America."

"Wouldn't someone have noticed?" Gwen asked. "Don't they have people checking these things?"

"They do." Tony told her. "But on ships like this one, it's just a simple pat-down body search."

"They still should have found it though." Tosh replied, a slight frown on her face.

"Not necessarily." Ziva said. "A weapon that small, could easily be hidden somewhere on the person."

"When you say 'hidden on the person'..." Tony's voice trailed off with a glare from Ziva. "Ok, don't worry. I think I've got it." That got a laugh from everyone and in Ziva's case, a shake of the head.

They all looked up as Owen and Ducky re-entered the mess hall and joined them.

"Well, our deceased Petty Officer is now on ice and waiting for our departure." Ducky told him.

"Good to hear, thanks, Duck." Gibbs nodded and offered the medic a spare chair.

"Hey, Jack." Gwen said, her tone implying she was about to ask a question.

"Yeah." The Captain asked, from where he sat with Ianto.

"Harris said the Weevil was subdued when he found it and that's how he was able to get it onboard."

"Yeah..." Jack encouraged her to continue.

"I was just thinking, how'd it get subdued in the first place?"

Everyone turned to face Jack, just as they had with Gibbs a moment ago. "My guess would be that the poor thing had just come through the Rift."

"It was just unfortunate enough to meet Harris." Owen said, a hint of anger in his voice.

"I'd say so." Jack said, with a grim smile. "Poor thing would have been terrified."

"It's over now, Jack." Ianto reminded him and the two of them smiled at each other.

"He's right." Gibbs said. "It is over and we can't hang around here forever. Besides I think we've all had enough Aliens for the day."

Tony opened his mouth, but before he could speak, Ziva pointed a threatening finger at him.

"If you mention the movie 'Alien' I will _personally_ make sure you are castrated."

Tony gulped and glanced around at the others who, after an initial wide-eyed look of shock, were all trying desperately to hide their laughter. And then he frowned and turned back to Ziva. "Hold on… you've heard of Alien?"

Everyone burst out laughing, Ziva along with them, at the surprised look on Tony's face.

Gibbs shook his head, a fond smile on his face, before he spoke. "Come on. We'd better get going. The less time we spend here, the better… considering." He added and everyone nodded in accord. It was time to leave the USS George H. W. Bush.

It took less than 20 minutes for everyone to pack up their gear and say goodbye to the Commander, who'd forgiven them all for suspecting him in the first place and had already made plans for getting the rest of the crew back on board.

"Holding on tight, this time, Captain?" Gibbs asked as the plane was about to take off.

"Yup." Jack replied with a grin. "I've learnt my lesson."

If Gibbs had any reply to that, Jack never heard it, as all sound was drowned out by the roar of the engines as the plane lurched up into the sky.


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer:** I only own a couple of boxsets and some books, so the following characters aren't mine.

_Enjoy. :)_

* * *

Chapter Thirteen

"Well, it was nice meeting you, Tosh." McGee told her as they were preparing to leave. The jet had dropped them back at the Naval Airbase and they were currently all congregating in the parking lot, saying their goodbyes.

"You too, Tim." She smiled. "Take care of yourself. I don't think Abby would like it if you got hurt again."

McGee nodded. "I don't think she would. Looks like my Weevil-wrangling days are over." He joked and Tosh laughed.

"Say hi to Abby for me when you get back, too. It's a shame I never got to meet her in person."

"It is and I will." McGee replied. There was a slightly awkward pause before either of them spoke again.

"You should –" They both spoke at the same time.

"You first." McGee told her after a few moments of laughing.

"You should tell Abby how you feel, Tim." She told him bluntly.

McGee blinked in surprise. "And you should tell Owen how you feel, Tosh." He mimicked her, though his tone was serious. Tosh nodded.

"I will if you do." She told him with a small grin.

"Ok." McGee told her; secretly glad of an excuse to finally tell Abby how much he cared for her. "It's a deal."

"Deal." Tosh smiled, risking a glance in Owen's direction where he was saying goodbye to the NCIS medics.

"I must thank you for your assistance, Dr. Harper." Ducky was saying. "Without your help and your equipment…" He shot a look at Mr. Palmer telling the young assistant it was his fault NCIS didn't have the equipment. "… we would have never solved this case."

"Anytime, Ducky." Owen replied, using the doctor's preferred name. "And you, Mr. Palmer."

"Thank you, Doctor!" Palmer was obviously pleased with the praise.

"I hope we can work again sometime." Ducky continued after a small shake of the head in Palmer's direction.

"Well, if you need it, I'm always available." He paused. "Situation pending, of course."

"Of course." Ducky laughed, thinking of all the situations the Torchwood team could get into, and offer a hand, which Owen shook. A few metres away, Tony and Ziva were saying their own farewells to Ianto and Gwen.

"It was nice working with you." Gwen told Ziva and leaned in to hug the Mossad Agent, who surprised Tony by hugging back.

"You too, Gwen." Ziva smiled. "It was good to have someone else besides Tony to work with, if you get my drift."

"Oh I get it." Gwen grinned.

"Oi!" Tony overheard them and the two women laughed.

"You know, I am surprised he did not ask for your number." Ziva told Gwen.

"Oh, he did." Gwen assured her, grinning at Tony. "I just refused to give it to him."

"Aww, my poor baby." Ziva mocked Tony as he pouted, before the senior field agent resorted to ignoring them.

"Hey, Ianto." He addressed the Welshman casually. "If you're ever in DC in the future, we've gotta meet up and watch some Bond, yeah?"

"Sure, Tony." Ianto replied. "Same goes if you're ever in Cardiff."

"Deal." Tony offered his hand to shake, and Ianto obliged. "It was nice working with you."

"You too." Ianto told him.

Jack watched Ianto and Tony shake hands, before turning back to Gibbs.

"It's good that they got along." Jack commented.

"Yeah, especially when it comes to Ziva." Gibbs shook his head slightly.

"I can see your point, Gibbs." Jack replied, thinking of the Mossad Officer. There was a brief pause before Jack offered his hand. "Well… Until next time."

"Until next time." Gibbs confirmed, shaking the offered hand.

"Let's hope that next time is in a more social context." Jack said and Gibbs nodded.

"OI!" Gibbs then yelled to his team, signalling it was time to leave. There was a few more muttered goodbyes and handshakes before the calls of 'Coming, boss!' were heard. Gibbs started walking over to their own parked car, not waiting for the others. He smiled to himself as he heard Ianto call 'Shalom' to Ziva and Tony ask once more for Gwen's number.

"You could have waited longer, Jethro." Ducky scolded the NCIS boss.

Gibbs shrugged. "I'm sure we'll meet again, Duck."

The medic gave a chuckle. "I have that feeling myself." He admitted, glancing one last look backwards at the waving Torchwood team and the running figures of Ziva, Tony, McGee and Mr. Palmer as they struggled to catch up.

Gwen, Tosh and Owen organised a taxi back to the airport as Jack and Ianto watched the NCIS team all catch up with each other and, as a group, make their way back to their own car.

"So, shall I organise to retcon them, Jack?" Ianto asked, a hint of humour in his voice. "After all, they now know all about you and aliens and I suspect, in Ducky's case, about Owen."

Jack tilted his head his eyes on, Ianto couldn't tell whose bottom, although he suspected all of them at once. "Nah, they'll be fine, Ianto. Besides there is a lot we can learn from them. They're a good contact to have."

Ianto shook his head in disgust as Jack's eyes remained glued on whoever's behind. The Welshman, in one swift movement, brought his hand up and slapped Jack across the back of the head.

"You're right, Jack. There _is_ a lot we can learn from them." Ianto grinned as turned to walk away, purposely ignoring Jack as he yelped in pain.

The End!

* * *

A/N: _Well, that's not really the end. It is for now, though. I've got a small epilogue planned, which will mainly include what happens with Tosh/Owen and McGee/Abby (thanks to BabyBoomBoom0029 for the suggestion). But that will probabaly have to wait until after all my exams are over. So until then, this is the end. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed and/or subscibed, especailly my 'regulars' - you know who you are. ;) _

_It would be awesome if you could all review this last chapter. :)_


	14. Epilogue

**Disclaimer:** The below characters belong to their respective owners and not me.

* * *

Epilogue

Tosh thought back to what McGee had told her as she stared mindlessly out of the aeroplane window at the dark surroundings and the hypnotic flashing lights on the wing tip.

"_You should tell Owen how you feel."_ Easy said than done, in her opinion.

Tosh sighed and turned around, her eyes pausing briefly on all of her sleeping co-workers individually. On the seats behind her, Jack was, for once, sleeping peacefully, his head resting on the shoulder of Ianto who, too, was contently asleep. Gwen was spread out on two seats on the seat behind them and was lightly snoring. Tosh couldn't help smiling fondly at them all, trying to think about how long this peacefulness would last. She turned around to the seat beside her. She had her mind set on simply gazing at Owen, while he slept and certainly wasn't expecting him to be awake and watching her.

"Oh!" Tosh gasped in surprise.

"Sorry." Owen muttered. "Didn't mean to scare you."

"Oh it's nothing." Tosh said, glancing down in an effort to hide her blush. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Owen nod as she desperately raked her mind, thinking of something to say.

"Some day, huh."

"Yeah." Tosh agreed, risking a look up at the medic. "Did Dr. Mallard find out about..." she trailed off.

"My death?" Owen finished. "Yeah. The old guy caught me stitching this up." He continued somewhat fondly, gesturing to his bandaged hand.

"Oh."

"Yeah." Owen said. There was a pause where both of them tried to think of something to say. It was very unlike Owen to be this quiet and reserved. "So, that date, aye." He asked, taking them both back to their conversation a few weeks earlier in the Hub.

"What about it?" Tosh said, staring at him with wide eyes, afraid he was going to reject her, despite what he'd originally said previously.

Owen gave a small snigger at her reaction. "I was just wondering when. I wasn't going to stand you up." He promised.

"Great." Tosh said, before taking a deep breath. "Because... uh... I've been..." She sighed, deciding to stop before she said something she'd regret.

"Because you've been wanting this, for a while?" Owen asked, not sounding cocky or up himself at all. Tosh nodded, thinking how silly it sounded when he said it out loud like that.

"I know, Tosh." Owen said, smiling at her.

"You do?"

"Yeah, of course." Owen told her. "It's been a bit obvious, you know."

Tosh nodded again. "I didn't think you noticed...Sorry"

"I did, and I think it's kinda sweet." Owen admitted.

"You think?" Tosh blushed.

"Yeah." Owen nodded, now grinning.

"So you're not going to stand me up then?" Tosh asked, immediately kicking herself afterwards; how many times had she asked that?

"No, Tosh. I'm not." Owen said firmly. "You've got to get that out of your little head of yours." He leaned over and tapped gently on her head.

Tosh gave a small smile. "Sorry."

"I'm looking forward to it, actually." He leaned over again and gave her a peck on the cheek and Tosh blushed. "It'll be fun."

"Really?" Tosh said, slightly nervously.

"Sure, it'll be interesting to see what'll happen." He smiled, somewhat cryptically and Tosh frowned slightly.

"It will." Tosh said, convincing herself, rather than agreeing.

Owen gave another uncharacteristic smile. "We should get some sleep before we get back." He stated.

Tosh found herself stifling a yawn at the mention of sleep. She gave a small laugh. "Good idea."

"See you in the morning, Tosh." Owen said, before he lowered his seat back into a more comfortable position.

"Night, Owen." Tosh said, smiling at him as he closed his eyes. Maybe there was still hope yet.

As Tosh lowered her own seat back, she thought back to McGee and wondered if the NCIS field agent had talked to Abby. That thought was only brief, however, as she drifted off into content sleep, her mind turning once again to Owen.

* * * * *

McGee swallowed nervously as he stood in the elevator, waiting for it to reach the Abby's level.

Gibbs had got off at MTAC, no doubt to speak to Jenny. Tony and Ziva left too, announcing they were going for a drink together after their best efforts to persuade Gibbs to join them. Watching them leave in the car park, McGee had watched as Tony's hand found the Mossad's, and as Ziva turned to look at the senior field agent. He imagined them smiling at each other; it had been comforting to watch.

This left only Ducky, Palmer and the junior field agent in the lift.

After a ping, the doors slid smoothly open. McGee braced himself, half expecting Abby to launch herself upon him. The gothic forensic, however, was not there. After muttering a brief goodbye to the medics, McGee stepped out and into the hallway, waiting for the lift doors to close again before he made the way towards Abby's lab.

"Timmy!" McGee had barely taken a step inside her lab when Abby let out a cry and enveloped him in a hug.

"Ow, Abs!" McGee complained, despite grinning. "My stitches, remember!'

"Oh, God!" Abby let go of him; worry clear on her face. "You're still hurt?"

McGee gave a small smile. "Not hurt, just a little tender." he reassured her.

"Oh." Abby replied with a nod. "Can I still hug you?" She looked up at him, her eyes wide, innocent and begging. How could he say no to that?

"Of course, just gentle."

Abby grinned and leaned up to hug the junior field agent again. "Oooh, I missed you, Tim." She snugged into his shoulder, breathing in his scent and closing her eyes contently.

"Me too, Abs." McGee gave her a firm squeeze.

"Please don't ever scare me again like that, ok." Abby asked of him, pulling out of the hug to look into his eyes.

"You know I can't promise that." McGee told her, not meeting her gaze.

"I know." Abby told him, her voice soft.

"But I'll try, Abs." McGee countered. "I can promise you that."

Abby simply grinned again and pulled McGee into another hug. "You know I love you McGee."

"Yeah." McGee smiled sadly, knowing she didn't quite mean it like he did. "I love you too, Abby." He'd said it. He'd never said it back to her, not since they'd been dating at least. There was a brief moment, where he wondered if she'd notice what he'd said, before Abby spoke again.

"I've missed you saying that." She admitted, her head resting on his shoulder; their arms wrapped around each other as they stood alone in her lab.

"I've missed saying it." McGee replied with a small laugh, equally truthful. Abby smiled into McGee's neck, before pulling away once again.

"Come on." She took him by the hands.

"Abs...?"

"You're coming home with me." Abby told him matter-of-factly and McGee could hardly protest.

"Any reason for this?" He asked, smiling.

"Not really." Abby told him. "I've just missed you, that's all. I thought we could spend some time together, because we haven't really spent that much time together lately." Abby rambled, only to be silenced by McGee, who suddenly leaned down and pressed his lips to hers; their joined hands fell away.

After, what felt like minutes later, Abby pulled away and stared at the junior field agent, somewhat, accusingly. "What was that for?"

"I...It was..." McGee stuttered, his previous confidence lost. "It was...a... a way to stop you talking." He ended rather lamely, knowing Abby would be able to see through his lie. Abby raised an eyebrow at him, and McGee dropped his eyes to the floor, afraid of meeting hers. Then, surprisingly warm fingers brushed up against his chin and lifted McGee's face up so he was looking directly at the forensic scientist.

"Sorry." McGee said softly. "I just..."

"Don't be, McGee." Abby replied, cutting him off. "Sorry, that is. Don't be sorry." She gave a small embarrassed smile, which slowly turned into a flirty one. "I didn't mind."

"Really?" McGee asked, not quite keeping the hope out of his voice.

Abby nodded, the smile remaining on her face. "Now, come on." She quickly changed the topic, and took his hand once again. "Back to mine, remember. We'll get some DVD's or something. Gibbs gave you tomorrow off, right?" McGee nodded slowly; their boss had given them all the day off.

"Abby..." McGee's voice trailed off and she turned back to look at him, some hidden emotion showing in her eyes.

"Timmy?"

McGee thought. He thought of all that could be between them and all that probably never would be. He knew that once they'd get back to Abby's place, they'd watch some movies and maybe fool around a bit, but it would never be a formal relationship. He knew that it never would be, when Abby was involved; that's just the way she was, never wanting to commit fully. He knew that, didn't he? Of course and he loved the gothic forensic for it.

"Timmy?" Abby asked again.

McGee shook his head. "Don't worry, Abs. I was just thinking, that's all." Abby nodded. If she knew what he was referring to she did not show it.

"Ok." She smiled. "Come on." She pulled on his hand again and together the two of them left the building.

In Abby's car, before they set off, McGee impulsively leaned across and gave her a swift kiss on her cheek. Abby simply turned to look at him and smiled again. McGee smiled back. Their relationship might have been unpredictable and indecisive (on Abby's part, at least), which once upon a time made him feel insecure. But it was heartfelt and it now suited them both in every way. Maybe one day, it would become more formal; but until then, McGee didn't really mind. As long as Abby was there, with him, he'd be happy and he knew she felt exactly the same way.

* * *

A/N _- Well, that was the epilogue I promised. I'd like to dedicate it to BabyBoomBoom0029 who_ a)_ wanted to see more 'McAbby' and_ b)_ gave me the idea to write it. :) I hope you liked it!_

_I did attempt to put more 'Tiva' in for those who wanted it, but I'm afraid I just can't write those two, for some reason I find it really hard and everything just sounded so unlike them. So I'm sorry about that. _

_Lastly, thank you to everyone who has reviewed this, favourited it, or just subscribed. You guys are fantastic, I'd love to see you all review for this last chapter. ;) _


End file.
